Target
by zoey04
Summary: Heero and Duo are working a tough case involving a gruesome serial killer. When Heero is named his next target, Duo must race against time to find this guy before he finds Heero. eventual yaoi. duel POVs. please r&r.
1. Chapter 1

**Yay! New story! XD It didn't take me very long to write this one and it was so fun! I think it turned out pretty good too... hopefully you will think the same thing XD Enjoy!**

**This is in duel POVs, by the way. So the next chapter will be Heero POV, then Duo POV, then so on...**

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Chapter 1

Duo POV

The sight made my stomach turn. A young man was tied to a chair in the middle of his room, his ankles bound to the legs of the chair and his wrists cuffed together behind the chair. His mouth was gagged and burns, cuts, and bruises covered his body, signaling torture. His face was sliced and bloody, eliminating facial recognition. The ends of his fingers were cut off, eliminating fingerprint identification. There was blood splattered all over the walls and pooled around the chair.

I snapped pictures, took notes, and made initial assessments, as did Heero. Taking a look around the man's apartment, I found the letter on the kitchen counter.

"Dammit!" I cursed, throwing down the paper.

"What did you find?" Heero asked, walking up next to me.

"It's our guy," I told him, rubbing my forehead and looking back at the poor young man strapped to the chair.

"Kuso," Heero muttered under his breath, reading the note.

I didn't have to read it. I knew exactly what it said. It was a letter from the killer to the victim, telling him he was his next victim. We had been chasing this guy for months with absolutely no progress. His MO's stayed the same, so when I saw the crime scene, I knew it was him, but finding the letter made my assumption fact.

"We have six hours before his next victim receives his letter. Another six hours before our guy grabs him. And then we have twenty four hours after that before our guy finally kills him," Heero pointed out unnecessarily. We knew this guys schedule down to the second.

Heero tossed the paper down onto the table and turned back to the crime scene.

"Let's get the evidence back to the lab and… I don't know, run some scenarios," Heero shrugged, clearly frustrated.

"I agree. There isn't much more we can do here," I exhaled, grabbing the evidence bags and following Heero to the car.

"How many more innocent people is this guy going to kill before we finally nail his ass?" Heero asked in exasperation as we drove off back to headquarters.

"Hopefully we'll get him soon. Nobody is perfect. He'll slip up eventually," I promised him, sneaking a glance sidewise at him.

His brow was furrowed in anger and he was so tense. His knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel too tight. I longed to reach up and rub away the crease in his brow, but kept my hands in my lap.

"But how many innocents are going to die before he does, Duo?" he threw up his hands before slapping them back down on the steering wheel.

I didn't answer that question, letting him vent. He sighed deeply, then glanced at me for a second.

"Sorry. I'm just… frustrated. I'm not used to not being able to catch pricks like these. And the way he kills his victims…"

"I know," I sighed as he pulled into the Preventers garage.

"I'm going to go run these to the lab. Meet me in the office and we'll sort through the files or something," he told me, grabbing the bags and heading off towards the lab.

I read through the new case file on my way up to our shared office. I nearly ran into Quatre who was turning the corner of an adjacent hall and the folder fell to the ground.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he automatically apologized, bending down to help pick up all the pictures and papers. "Oh my…"

"Yeah, it's pretty gruesome, isn't it? Heero is really ticked off about all this," I frowned, reorganizing the papers.

"That's terrible. Is that the letter guy?" he asked.

"Yeah. We haven't had a single lead and it's been over a month and over twenty victims."

"That's tough. Where's Heero?" the blonde asked, looking back down the hall.

"In the lab. He's dropping off evidence."

He nodded. "Best of luck."

"Yeah, we're gonna need it," I grimaced, heading back into my office.

I sat down at my computer and immediately pulled up the twenty cases and then added this one to the mix. Then I pulled up a special program designed for recreating crime scenes, then figuring out the events that led up to the scene. I had just finished entering in every detail on the room I had when Heero walked in.

"I still need to enter in the details and pictures of the victim, then I'm going to run the scenario," I told him.

He booted up his computer as I entered in the details. When I had everything entered in, he walked up behind me and leaned over the back of my chair as I started the recreation. I couldn't hide the slight blush as he leaned in closer to get a better view of the screen. I quickly turned my attention back to the computer and the nervous butterflies immediately turned to horror butterflies. The scene playing out in front of us was frightening and sickening. A simulated figure brutally tortured the simulated figure on the screen and I adverted my eyes as the killer took a knife to the man's face, finally killing him. I shuttered as the picture froze, the timeline up.

"That's just… evil. I can't even describe it…" I murmured, pulling up the files and running comparisons.

"Which is why we need to catch this guy," Heero growled, straightening up.

Six hours passed and I was reclined back in my chair, feet up on my desk, watching Heero tape up pictures to our whiteboard. They were blown up pictures of the victims, then blown up pictures of corresponding crimes scenes under them. He only managed to get thirty of the forty two up, some overlapping slightly, so I snuck into WuFei's empty office and stole his board, wheeling it up next to ours. Once Heero was done putting up the pictures, he took a whiteboard marker to the edges of the pictures and any available spaces. He circled things in the photos, wrote down notes, made slight observations, then stepped back and sat on the edge of my desk.

"See anything?" I asked pointlessly.

"No," he growled, looking down at a file, then looking back up.

I sighed when I realized the time. "His next victim just received his letter," I exhaled, looking more intently at the board.

"I know."

Five more hours passed, finding me standing in front of the board, pacing and thinking hard, trying to find anything that could lead us to this guy. It was late, almost eleven, and Heero had already left, taking with him most of the files. I had decided to stay. The next victim had already received his letter and had one hour before he was snatched and tortured. I growled at the board, running my fingers through my unruly bangs, willing a clue to appear. My eyes were having a hard time staying open and I was dead on my feet, not the best condition for spotting small mistakes, but I had to try.

I needed to sleep, I told myself. The next victim needed me on high alert, not half asleep. I grabbed my coat and the door opened, revealing the mailman.

"You're here late, Agent Maxwell," he greeted, handing me Heero and my mail.

"You too, Harry," I responded, flipping through the letters as he left.

Most were mission notices, letters from the families of the victims asking for new, and bills, but one caught my attention. It was addressed to Heero and had no return address. I frowned, turning it over and opening it. He'd probably kill me for going through his mail, but I was curious.

It was a blank piece of paper with the exception of five words written in messy scrawl in the middle of the page. 'You're next, Agent Heero Yuy.'

But… this was five hours late. The killer had never once missed his deadlines by a second. Perhaps it had been downstairs in the mailroom the entire time?

"Hey Harry! When did this letter arrive?" I asked him, waving the letter at him.

"Oh, I don't know. I few hours ago maybe?" he responded with a shrug.

"Try and be precise," I insisted, handing him the envelope.

"Um… about four, maybe five hours ago. Why does it matter?" he asked me, his eyebrows raised.

My heart stopped and my body froze for a moment. Then I was in motion, dropping the letter and bolting out of the room and into the parking garage where my jeep was. Jamming the key in the ignition and starting the car, I peeled out of the garage and out of the headquarters. I checked the clock. Just after eleven. One hour left. I prayed he wasn't early.

I pulled out my cell and speed dialed Une.

"What," she demanded, sounding as if she had just been asleep.

"Send any available units to Heero's apartment now. Possible kidnap. I'm en route," I demanded.

"What?" she asked, confusion covering her tone.

"Just do it!" I ordered, snapping my phone shut.

It took much too long to reach Heero's apartment, but when I did, I ran up the stairs to the third level and pounded on Heero's door.

"Heero? Heero you there?" I called.

I gave him three seconds to answer, and when he didn't, I raised my foot and busted in the door, gun raised and ready.

"Duo? What the… You'd better have a damned good reason for—" Heero started, but I cut him off.

"It's you, Heero," I gasped, instinctively looking around and keeping my gun lowered but ready.

"What the hell are you taking about?"

"He named you, Heero. You are his next victim."

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**So... kinda short, but I promise there are a bunch of chapters. So was it good? Not good? Horrible? A disgrace? Please review and I'll post the next chapter as soon as possible.**

**I'm currently working on a few different stories, none of which are getting very far, so other than this and my series of little mindless drabbles, don't expect much from me. And for those of you reading **Captured**, I _am_ still working on it. I promise. Me and **ShinigamiDeathscytheSan** both. The inspiration has just kind of come to a stop. Sorry. DX**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, here's the next chapter... obviously... XD Well, enjoy!**

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Chapter 2

Heero POV

"What?" I stuttered, raising my eyebrow at Duo.

"Harry brought by our mail and you got a letter from our guy. He's named you his next victim," Duo explained in a rush, his gun still aimed down at the floor.

"Okay, so what now?" I asked him.

"Let's get back to the office. You'll be the safest there," he decided, turning towards the door just as sirens sounded in front of the building.

"You called in the cavalry?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow at him, but my tone held no humor.

"Just in case I was too late," he responded. "Come on. They'll give us an escort."

"Or, I could just stay here and wait for the guy—" I started, but he cut me off.

"No! No. We'll find another way to get him," Duo insisted, gesturing for me to come with him.

"What other way, Duo," I asked, wondering why that suggestion had received that kind of reaction from him.

"I don't know, but we'll figure it out. Now, let's go," he insisted.

"Fine," I agreed reluctantly.

He made me stay close behind him as he hurried down the halls, his gun raised and ready. I pulled mine out of the shoulder holster that I had never taken off and followed right behind him. We took the stairs because they were quicker, and ran into the other agents on their way up.

"We need an escort back to headquarters," Duo demanded.

"We don't have any spare men to put a detail on him," one of them told Duo.

"I'll stay with him. Just get us back there as quickly as possible," he demanded.

The agent nodded, turning back on the stairs with all his men. Duo had me walk between him and the men on the way out to his jeep. I climbed in and Duo took the drivers seat, following quickly behind the sirens. Once at the headquarters, Duo didn't drop his guard in the slightest until we were in our office. He holstered his gun, then sank back into his chair, exhaling sharply.

"Where is the letter?" I asked him.

He picked up the paper and envelope from on his desk and handed it to me. As I read over the letter, he stood and walked up to the board, rubbing the back of his neck. He had shadows under his eyes and seemed to have a hard time keeping them open. He looked like crap.

"You look exhausted," I pointed out.

"Hn," he shrugged, scanning the pictures.

"You need to go get some sleep," I told him.

"No way. Not a chance in hell I'm leaving you here alone with…" he looked down at his watch, "twenty minutes left until you are supposed to be kidnapped."

"Fine," I shrugged, looking back at the letter. "I'm going to go run this down to the lab to look for fingerprints and stuff."

I started walking down the hall and Duo ran up beside me, checking his gun. "Told you I wasn't leaving you alone."

"I can take care of myself, Duo. Especially in Preventers headquarters," I told him.

"Better safe than sorry," he shrugged.

I rolled my eyes and continued to the elevator and down a level to the labs. Duo followed me into the first room off the elevator as I looked for O'Brian. I found him at his desk working on a case file.

"Hey Jason. Can you check for fingerprints on this?" I asked the forensic scientist.

"Yes, sir," he responded, taking the letter and envelope. "Is this the guy you've been chasing for the past month?"

I nodded and he walked over to his table and pulled out a jar of powder and a brush. He froze when he saw the name on the paper.

"That's why we need the results rushed, Jason," Duo explained. "Once you get fingerprints, run them, then run any other tests you can think of."

"Absolutely, sir," he nodded and dusted the paper. "It looks like we have a few prints on both the letter and the envelope. I'll run them through all available data bases and let you know the moment I get a hit."

"Okay. Call my cell, not my office. I'll be down in the morgue," I told him.

"The morgue?" both he and Duo asked at the same time.

"I'm going to take a closer look at the victims," I explained as O'Brian moved to his computer and scanned in the fingerprints.

Duo followed me out the door and into the elevator. I pressed the button for the bottom level and it took us down one more level before stopping and opening the doors. I walked up to the doors of the morgue and found it locked. When I reached into my back pocket for my pass, I realized I had left it in my apartment.

"You wouldn't happen to have…" I started, but Duo was already swiping his card and scanning his retinas.

The doors slid open and Duo followed me into the morgue. The medical examiner had already left and everything was locked up. Duo scanned his card at the first cooler and pulled out the body, then slid it back in. When he found our victim, I helped him carry the slab over to the exam table. Duo sat back in the medical examiner's chair and I stood back to look at the body.

"Anything in particular you're looking for?" Duo asked, spinning around in the chair with his head tilted back.

I caught myself staring. Not at the body, but at Duo. His mystifying violet eyes were closed and his long braid hung inches from the floor. His arms were loosely crossed over his chest and his legs stretched out in front of him. He seemed relaxed, for once, despite being around a bunch of dead people. I shook my head, looking back at the body.

"No. Just… anything that might get us closer to this creep," I responded, crossing my arms over my chest.

The medical examiner had cleaned this guy up. But, even though the blood was gone, you still couldn't see his face due to the stab wounds. I looked over the body, searching for anything, anything at all. I did notice something I hadn't seen on our report. In between the man's forefinger and middle finger was a small needle mark. The man showed no signs of drug abuse outside or inside of his body, so the killer must've injected it.

"Hey Duo? Can you…" I started, but stopped at the sound of Duo's light snores.

I turned to see him asleep, his head tilted back and his arms lax in his lap. I don't know why, but the sight brought a small smile to my lips. I quickly wiped it away, focusing on the task at hand.

Easing around Duo, careful not to wake him, I went through the files on the medical examiner's desk. Finally, I located our John Doe and flipped through the file. He hadn't recorded the needle mark, which meant that he hadn't seen it. I made a note in the file, then flipped through to find the tox-screen. Everything was negative, which meant that the killer used something untraceable. If I could guess, I'd say it was something either to paralyze or in some way handicap the victim to keep him from resisting torture. And looking back at the body, it made sense. The ligature marks on the victim's wrists and ankles showed only damage equivalent to an initial struggle. Not consistent with twenty four hours of struggling against torture.

Frowning, I put down the file on the side of the table and leaned my hands against the metal. Looking at this body, it started to sink in that I was next. If this guy was true to his word, he'd be coming after me any minute, and then it would be my turn to endure the pain and suffering this man and twenty others faced. My hand instinctively went to my waist to make sure my gun was there.

But why me? I found myself asking. Why did he pick me as opposed to Duo? I couldn't answer that question. But, as I glanced over at Duo's sleeping form, I found myself grateful it wasn't him, and that when this guy finished with me, he wouldn't come after Duo.

My cell vibrated, making me jump, knocking the file to the ground. I quickly picked it up, then answered.

"Yuy," I said in a quiet voice.

"I got something," O'Brian told me.

"I'll be up in a minute," I responded, slipping the file back onto the desk, then quietly leaving the room.

I took the stairs up one level to the lab, then walked into the room, finding O'Brian standing in front of a computer.

"We got four different sets of prints," he started before I even got to him. "I'm running them now."

Just as he said that, his computer beeped and my picture popped up on the screen.

"One of them was obviously yours," he pointed out, closing that set of prints.

The computer beeped again and Duo's picture popped up. He closed out of that one, then another face popped up. Harry, the Presenter's mailman.

"Well that makes sense. These ones were on the envelope," O'Brian responded, closing out of that one, leaving one set remaining.

"This could take a while," O'Brian frowned. "When is this guy supposed to grab you?"

I looked down at my watch and my heart instinctively sped up. "Two minutes and forty seven, six, five, four, seconds."

O'Brian's eyes widened a little, then he turned back to his computer. "Come on, give me something," he murmured.

The computer beeped and my breath caught, but I let it out in a frustrated sigh. 'No Matches'.

"Damn," he exhaled, stepping back from the computer.

"Well we know that this has to be the killer. Everyone else that would've touched it, the mailman, any Preventer agent, would have government jobs and would be in the system. At least we have his prints. He's been careful not to leave a single fiber behind, but now we have this," I told him, looking at the bright side of it.

"I guess you're right," he sighed, heading back to his desk. "I'll keep working on it."

"Heero? Heero?" I heard Duo's frantic voice echo from down the hall, then he appeared, wide eyed, in the doorway.

He was breathing heavy and had a frantic look on his face. His gun was aimed at the ground, ready to be used if needed. He exhaled deeply when he saw me and his shoulders relaxed as he holstered his gun.

"You scared the shit out of me. I woke up, saw you were gone, and saw that your time was almost up, and I guess I kind of freaked," he panted, looking at me with worried filled eyes.

"I'm fine," I reassured him. "O'Brian got three of four matches on the fingerprints," I told him as we headed back down the hall. "Yours, mine, and Harry's."

"And…? You said there were four," he prompted.

"We're pretty sure they belong to the killer, but the computer didn't find any matches," I told him.

"You mean he actually left something behind for once?" Duo asked, shocked.

"Apparently."

In the elevator, Duo pressed the button to go back down to the morgue.

"We need to put the victim back in his cooler," he reminded me. "Unless you are still looking at him."

"Yeah, I'm done with him, but I want to look at the other victims that we still have," I said, remembering the needle prick between the guys fingers.

He nodded, then, with a boom, click, and the sound of generators shutting off, the power went out. The elevator jerked to a halt right in between the lab and morgue. The lights flickered out and we were left alone in the dark.

I looked down at my watch and lit up the backlight. It was exactly the time I was supposed to be snatched.

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**Well? Suspensful? Or boring? What did you think? Please review. I'll update the next chapter tomorrow if I remember XD**


	3. Chapter 3

**So... sorry for the slight cliff hanger... here's the next chapter. And thanks for all the reviews everyone! They were greatly appreciated! XD**

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Chapter 3

Duo POV

I woke with a start. I must've accidentally dozed off. I wasn't supposed to be sleeping. I couldn't sleep. I needed to watch Heero. Heero… I looked around and found myself alone in the morgue. Checking my watch, I realized that it was just minutes until Heero was supposed to be snatched.

_Shit!_ I cursed, bolting out of the morgue, nearly running into the slow opening doors. Was he snatched already? Was he hurt? Knocked out? Dead…? A million different scenarios ran through my head, none of them ending well for Heero. That thought made me panic as I slammed open the doors to the stairwell and took them two at a time. I started with our office, hoping that he was just checking files.

"Heero?" I called, sliding into the office.

It was empty.

"Come on, Heero. Where the hell are you?"

The lab. O'Brian probably told him he had matches on the fingerprints or something. I ran down the stairs a level and took off towards the lab.

"Heero? Heero?" I called.

And thank god he was there.

He was standing talking to O'Brian in front of the computer. I let out a sigh as I holstered my gun and instinctively looked Heero over for injuries.

"You scared the shit out of me. I woke up, saw you were gone, and saw that your time was almost up, and I guess I kind of freaked," I panted, trying to hide the worry from my tone, but most likely failing.

"I'm fine," he responded. "O'Brian got three of four matches on the fingerprints. Yours, mine, and Harry's."

I tried to relax a little more as we walked down the hall. Heero was safe, he wasn't hurt. But there was that little bit of panic that was growing in the back of my head as the seconds ticked by. His time was almost up…

"And…?" I urged. "You said there were four."

"We're pretty sure they belong to the killer, but the computer didn't find any matches," he continued.

"You mean he actually left something behind for once?" I asked, shocked.

"Apparently," he responded simply.

Once we reached the elevator, I pushed the button down to the morgue.

"We need to put the victim back in the cooler. Unless you are still looking at him," I reminded him.

"Yeah, I'm done with him, but I want to look at the other victims that we still have," he responded, thinking about something.

I nodded, then there was a large boom, and the power shut off. The elevator came to an abrupt halt in between the two floors. The lights went out and it became pitch dark in the small space.

"Well, probably no safer place than in an elevator stuck between two floors," I joked and Heero nodded with a slight smile.

"I'm a little worried about Jason though," he admitted.

"Are you kidding?" I laughed. "He's like third degree black belt and knows absolutely everything about every kind of gun. He may seem skinny and defenseless, but man can he kick ass! And yes, I _did_ learn that the hard way," I grinned, remembering the time he had mentioned being able to take care of himself. I laughed and told him that I could pin his ass to the ground in point two seconds flat. He had laughed back, then the next thing I knew _he_ had _me_ pinned to the ground in point one second flat.

Heero chuckled and sat back against the wall. I walked over to the wall and groped around for the control panel, then unscrewed the screws with my pocketknife. After pulling off the plate, I started to mess around with the wires and controls. There was a flash and a zap and I jumped back, shaking my hand.

"What happened?" Heero asked, and did I imagine the slight worry in his voice? I must have.

"Apparently messing with wires in the dark isn't a good idea," I mused, rubbing my still stinging hand. "You wouldn't happen to have a flashlight on you, would you?"

He stood and walked up behind me, opening his cell and holding it out so the light shone on the panel. I was very aware of how close he was to me as I worked on the control panel.

"What are you trying to do?" he asked me, looking over my shoulder. "If the electricity is out, then the elevator isn't going to start."

"I'm trying to kick into the emergency generators," I told him, his warm breath on the back of my neck making my skin tingle.

I connected a wire, then flipped a switch and the elevator jerked. I let out the breath I had been holding as the elevator started to move up. It reached the next floor and the doors opened. What I wasn't expecting was someone to be on the other side of the doors.

I jumped, drawing my gun, but then realized that it was just O'Brian.

"Jesus, Jason!" I gasped. "You scared the crap out of me!"

"You guys alright?" he asked as I holstered the gun.

"Yeah. Do you know what happened to the power?" I asked him.

"No. It just… went out. And it's everything. The lights, phone, computers…"

"Hmm. Have you tried taping into the emergency generators yet?" I asked him, heading into the lab.

Heero started the other way towards his office, but I grabbed his wrist and pulled him with me into the lab.

"The guy was supposed to grab you a few minutes ago, so you are sticking with me until we catch this guy," I told him, pulling him over to the generators with me.

Popping open the panel, I flipped a few switches, pushed a few buttons, then hit the main switch.

"Computers are booting up," O'Brian told me.

"But the lights are still out," Heero pointed out, flipping the light switch on and off.

"Let me see if I can find… got it. Try it now," I told him.

Heero flipped on the switch and nothing happened at first, but then they finally flickered on.

"Awesome," I smiled, but then the lights sparked and blew out. "Not awesome."

It was pitch black again and I quickly made my way over to Heero. I pulled out my cell for some light.

"We need to go put our victim away," I told him.

"How are we supposed to get the door to the morgue open? It's electronic," he reminded me.

"Good point…" I frowned. "But… I got the computers back up, so hopefully the door will work."

He shrugged and we made our way to the stairwell. Once in the morgue, I scanned my card and my retinas, and the doors slid open. I grinned the 'told you' grin at Heero and he rolled his eyes at me, but he was smiling.

"Wait, before we put him away, I want you to see this," he frowned, picking up the victims right hand.

He pointed out tiny needle mark in between his forefinger and middle finger. I walked over and grabbed the guys file.

"It says his tox-screen is clean…" I mused, then flipped to Doctor Cross's internal examination notes. "And he doesn't have any signs of drug abuse."

"I think the killer probably gave him something to handicap him in some way. The ligature marks on his wrists support that assumption. They don't show signs of a constant struggle for twenty four hours," Heero explained.

I nodded, looking at the marks on his wrists.

"Alright, let's put him away, then get back to our office. We can go over this up there," I suggested, helping Heero slid the victim back into his cooler.

Heero grabbed up a few of the other files and followed me to the door. When the thick metal doors slid open, I wasn't prepared for what happened next. Someone hit me over the head with a blunt object and I was out instantly.

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**Sorry again for the cliff hanger... but I just can't help it! Please don't hurt me! *runs and hides under the blankets* I'll post the next chapter tomorrow after school I promise. Please review.**


	4. Chapter 4

**So... short chapter... and again, sorry for the cliff hanger... Thanks for the reviews, and enjoy XD**

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Chapter 4

Heero POV

I should've been more alert, more aware. I shouldn't have let my guard down in the first place. The man waiting on the other side of that door shouldn't have surprised me, but he did. Before I could even flinch towards my gun, Duo was unconscious on the floor and a chloroform soaked rag was pressed firmly over my mouth and nose. My vision blurred and the gun I had managed to draw fell from my lax hands. I sank to my knees, unable to hold up my own weight. My head swam and I lost sensation in my entire body, then I was out.

When I came too, I was in a dark room. My vision was still hazy, so I couldn't make out anything. I tried to reach up to rub at my eyes, but found my wrists bound. I tried to remain calm and figure out just what the killer had bound me with. I realized quickly it was a rough rope wrapped around my hands a few times, then through the chair and back around my wrists. I couldn't find the knot, so untying myself was out. I found that my ankles were also bound to the legs of the chair using the same kind of rope. As my vision started to clear, I took a better look around. I couldn't see much in the dark, but I could make out that I was in some sort of basement. I didn't see any windows, just a door about ten feet in front of me. But what I found hanging on the walls made me shiver and turn my gaze down. There were numerous blades, chains, cuffs, pliers, wires, syringes, and pointed, sharp objects.

But, even as countless images ran through my head, all involving those tools, I couldn't help thinking about Duo. The last thing I saw before I woke up here was Duo getting pistol whipped. Was he okay? Did the man kill him? I didn't know and that worried me.

I wasn't used to the feelings that were coursing through me as I thought about Duo. I couldn't name them. They were… new, foreign, unknown. I remember feeling them every time I was around Duo. Seeing him sleeping in the morgue, stuck in the elevator with him, when he grabbed my wrist… those were the times they seemed the most prominent. Was it—

Suddenly, the door squeaked open, cutting off my train of thought, and I looked up to see the man from in the morgue.

"Oh good. You're awake. I've never had to wait before torturing my victims before. But, with you, I wanted to be extra careful. I had to knock you out to get you here, but I didn't want to leave any marks. I was saving that for now. I'm sorry about your friend, by the way. He was a little cutie. Didn't want to hurt him, but I knew he wouldn't let me take you," he said in a higher pitched voice than I was expecting.

I didn't respond, just stared at him like I was bored. I knew people like him. I've collared enough of them to know exactly how they work. They feed off of fear, pain, suffering. Taking those things out of the equation starved them. I needed to act like I was bored, uncaring, calm. It will confuse him. He'll make a mistake. Hopefully…

"Quiet, aren't we?" he mocked.

I tried to get a mental image of him imprinted in my brain. Skin tones, scars, tattoos, piercings, eye color, hair color, jaw line, brow ridge, prominence in his cheek bones, mouth set, eyebrows, nose line. I wanted to remember exactly what he looked like for when I got out of here. If I got out of here…

He had brown hair, brown eyes, a small curved scar on the left side of his temple, a tattoo of a spider web on the side of his neck, no piercings, very prominent jaw line, high cheek bones, very light skin tone, like he'd hardly ever seen the sun, thick bushy brown eyebrows, steep nose line, thin mouth set, and very small and thin and boney.

"Huh. You are much different than any of my other victims. But that's what I was expecting. Hoping for, actually. I have to say I would've been disappointed if the big, badass, ex-Gundam Pilot Heero Yuy was a beggar, pleader, cry baby. You live up to my expectations, pilot 01. My other victims all pleaded, begged, groveled, for their lives. You… you seem bored. Am I boring you?" he asked, raising his bushy brown eyebrow.

His fist came hard into my right cheek. He was left handed, I noted. I felt blood start to pool in my mouth and spit it out, looking back up at my torturer. He grinned, taking a step to the wall. I didn't let the fear show on my face. I slipped on my expressionless, monotonous, hard mask from the war. I had promised myself I wouldn't go back to that state of mind when the war ended. I could have a life now, I had told myself. But this was an exception, I told myself now.

"Usually, I incapacitate my victims before I torture them. I give them this special drug that paralyses them. It ends up taking most of the pain away, but not all of it. They can still feel some of the pain I inflict on them, which is usually enough."

I suppressed my shudder.

"But with you… I'm sure you've been tortured in the past and are pretty used to the presence of pain, so I can't afford to lose anything with you. You will feel it all." I could hear the malicious grin in his voice.

I clamped down on my emotions, slipping into my 'prefect soldier' façade. It was awkward at first, going back to that state of mind, but I made myself get used to it.

"They'll never find you before your time is up. As much as I want to torture you for days, make you suffer continuously until you break, I need to stick to my timeline. It was very unfortunate that I wasn't able to grab you at the right time. I managed to shut off the power though. It was the start of your capture, so that should count."

He was OCD. Most serial killers were. Everything had to be perfect. He had to stick to his timeline. I noted that, hoping I could use this to my advantage.

"Do you even know how to speak?" he asked, and I was able to pick up the slight irritation in his voice.

Perfect. My silence and boredom was getting to him. If I could manage to keep it up, no matter what he was doing to me, then he was sure to slip up. I needed him to realize that, even though he's the one with the tools and I'm the one strapped to the chair, I'm stronger than he is. Yes, serial killers feed off of fear, pain, and suffering, but they also feed most prominently off of control. I need to show him that he's not in control of me.

"Say something! Beg for your life! Give some hint that you actually care about life!" he shouted at me, punching me in the face again.

I spat out the blood again, making it seem like it was nothing new, nothing special… boring. He growled at me, pulled a dull edged blade off of the wall, then plunged it into my upper leg. He knew what he was doing. He had stabbed me in a sensitive part of my leg just above my knee, but just to the side so that he missed the femoral artery. I clamped down on the pain, suppressing it to the back of my head. I kept my face blank, emotionless, even though I was a mess inside. But, when he made a sharp twist with the blade, I couldn't hold back the slight flinch.

"That is… outstanding," he smiled, jerking out the blade. "How can you endure silently?"

I kept my eyes down so not to let him see any of the emotions that might've been displayed in them. The blood flowed down my leg and onto the metal chair. I concentrated on that, keeping my mind off of my torturer and the pain. But it wasn't working. When I turned my thoughts onto Duo, though, all the pain disappeared.

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**Poor Heero... I almost feel bad... almost... XD It's just too fun! Please review and I'll update as soon as possible.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Next chapter! Yay! I had planned on posting this earlier today, but I spent all day at my friends house working on a history project (ugh!) XD Well, anyway, thanks for all the reviews and enjoy!**

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Chapter 5

Duo POV

My head was searing. My vision was hazy. I couldn't remember why I was lying on the floor, my heat pounding. But when I realized I was in front of the morgue, and I saw Heero's gun on the ground, it all came back to me.

Heero was gone. I had let down my guard, and now, that murdering psychopath had Heero. The feeling in my heart and gut was almost crippling. Heero was probably suffering in some dark place right now because I had let my guard down.

I jumped up, but then fell back against the wall, my head swimming. I pulled my cell out of my pocket and fumbled with the numbers, dialing Une.

"What?" she demanded, sounding like I had woken her up. Again.

"He got him," I told her, staggering towards the stairwell.

"Who got who?" she asked.

"Heero. Heero's been taken," I clarified.

"He what? I thought you were going to watch him!" she exploded.

"He snuck up on us leaving the morgue. He hit me over the head with something, then grabbed Heero. I… I just woke up," I told her.

I reached up a hand and felt the back of my head. It was soaked with blood.

I heard her sigh deeply, then some rustling around. "How long ago did he take Yuy?"

I looked down at my watch. "About twenty minutes. Which means we have twenty three hours and forty minutes to find him before…" I couldn't finish that sentence.

"Okay. I'm on my way. Who else is in the building?"

"I… I don't know. I know O'Brian is here. Harry might still be here, but other than that, I don't know," I responded, finally reaching the top of the stairs and throwing the door open.

"I'll be there in a few minutes."

I hung up and stumbled into the lab.

"O'Brian? You okay?" I called.

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" he asked, turning around from his computer.

"So… you didn't see someone who shouldn't have been here?" I asked.

"No… Why, what happened?"

I pushed him out of the way to get to the computer.

"You're head is split open, Maxwell! What happened?" he persisted, dabbing at my head with a wad of paper towels. Then he asked, "Where is Yuy?"

I brushed him off. "After I booted up the computers, did the security cameras come on?"

"Yes, but not the alarm systems. The return power was very spotty. It only affected some sectors."

I quickly gained access to the security camera footage. I pulled up the footage of our attack in the morgue, I followed him as he grabbed Heero and headed out of there. This man was small and had a lot of trouble holding up Heero. He had pulled Heero's arms over his shoulders and dragged him behind him all the way out of the building. The way he tossed Heero into the back of the van like he was garbage made me flinch. The van turned and went east out of the Preventers headquarters.

"Oh my god…" O'Brian gasped.

A bunch of men ran into the lab then, guns raised and aimed at us.

"Preventer Agent Duo Maxwell," I identified myself and they lowered their weapons.

"What's the situation?" one of the men asked me. "Une just told us to get over here, she didn't tell us what was going on.

"Our murderer named Agent Yuy as his next victim, and twenty minutes ago, he was kidnapped. All I know, is that the van they loaded him into went east after leaving the premises," I told them, pointing at the computer screen, trying to keep the panic out of my voice.

Heero was gone, and it was all my fault. That thought kept prickling in the back of my head, threatening to overwhelm me. I hadn't expected that I'd feel this strongly about it. It wasn't just the disappointment in myself, or the feeling that I had failed Heero, that was bugging me so much… it was something more, some other feeling I couldn't name.

"How long ago was Agent Yuy kidnapped?" the cop asked me.

"About… twenty, twenty five minutes ago," I responded, running a hand through my bangs. "We have a little over twenty three hours until the guy… the guy…"

"The guy what, Agent Maxwell?" the cop asked.

"The guy kills Heero," I finally managed to say, my heart beating rapidly.

"Well then we better get to work. Does he have his cell phone with him?"

"He should. But the killer probably took it from him."

"Well, that's the best we've got, so let's work with it. Call his cell and someone trace it," he said.

"We'll only be able to trace it if he answers," I pointed out.

"Well we can try. Call him and I'll run the trace if he answers."

"I'll do it," I insisted, turning back to the computer and dialing Heero's cell. I switched my phone onto speaker and set it on the desk.

It rang and rang and rang, and I was hoping to god that he'd answer and say that he was in the office or something, but I knew that wasn't true. While the phone rang, I pulled up the program and waited, the cursor waiting over the 'trace' button. What surprised me was when someone answered it.

I quickly clicked the button, then waited. All I heard was breathing.

"Hello?" I asked, my voice slightly shaky.

"I assume by now you've already discovered Agent Yuy's absence," the voice responded. It was obvious that it was electronically disguised.

"Yes," I answered, not sure what else to say.

"He's being a tough little soldier right now. He can really put up with a lot, can't he?"

I cringed, so many images flashing behind my eyes. I leaned my hands on the edge of the table and took a deep, shuddering breath. I was surprised when my eyes started to sting. "What do you want?" I demanded, trying to hide my fear from my voice.

"What do _I_ want? I want the thrill of having someone else's blood running down my hands, of having their screams of pain fill my ears. I want to see that look in their eyes as they realized they are taking their last breaths. That, my good sir, is what I want."

"Listen here, you asshole," I growled, my fear suddenly being replaced by anger, hatred, rage. "You are a sick bastard, and you have messed with the wrong damned people. You lay a finger on him… harm a single hair on his head… I will find you, and I _will_ kill you. You understand, you prick?"

He laughed, and I heard the sound of a blade ripping through flesh. "Too late."

I flinched, my eyes watering. The computer beeped, telling me I had a location, and I was glad I had an excuse to snap the phone shut. "Got it."

The cop pulled out his radio and pushed the button. "We have a 207 at the Preventers headquarters. We've traced the phone signal to 50 52nd street. Requesting all available backup at the location."

"_And who does the 207 involve?"_ a man on the other end of the radio asked.

"Preventer Agent Heero Yuy."

"_Backup is en route. ETA approximately fifteen minutes."_

I scribbled down the address on a piece of paper and then was moving. "Let's go!" I demanded.

"Sir, with all due respect, you are in no shape to be heading this assignment. You are injured, sleep deprived, and too emotionally attached," the officer told me, grabbing my shoulder.

"I am your superior, officer. Now, you will do as I say, or I will right you up on disobeying orders. Now, the longer we stand here arguing, the longer that crazy psychopath is torturing Agent Yuy. And if any more damage is inflicted on him, I'm holding you personally responsible for, got that?"

"Yes sir," he responded reluctantly, turning on his heals and stalking out of the room.

I followed close behind him, pulling my gun and making sure it was loaded. I reached up and hastily wiped the blood from the back of my head. I looked down at my watch, then set it to count down the minutes until midnight tomorrow night, when Heero would… No. We were going to find him before his time ran out. We were going to get him now.

"I'm coming for you, Heero," I growled under my breath.

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**Well, there you go! I might be late updating tomorrow because I'll be out with my horse all day. Hopefully I'll get it posted though. Please review!**

**Other than this, I don't have much going on right now in the ways of fanfics. **Captured** has pretty much been dumped, unfortunately, and **ShinigamiDeathscytheSan** and I are trying to cowrite something, but who knows if that will work. As for my drabble series, I'll update that as soon as I think of another drabble (obviously XD)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Yay. Back to Heero and torture. Well... not yay, but you know what I mean... hopefully... XD So yes, thanks for the wonderful reviews. They make me feel loved XD Enjoy.**

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Chapter 6

Heero POV

"How could you possibly endure that in silence?" he demanded of me, turning the blood soaked blade around in his hand.

I didn't answer, keeping my eyes narrowed at him. Then he did something that almost made my cool façade crack. He brought the knife blade up to his mouth and licked the blood from the flat metal surface. I clamped down on the shock. I had seen worse fetishes.

Suddenly, a phone started to ring, and I recognized it as my cell. Duo's ring tone, Invincible, played and I couldn't hold back the smile. I always smiled when I heard that, because it was just so Duo. But I wiped the smile from my face quickly so that my torturer wouldn't see it. I couldn't show him any weakness, even a stupid weakness like that. But, was it really stupid? Or was it deeper than that?

He pulled my cell out of his pocket and checked the caller ID.

"Who is Duo Maxwell?" he asked me.

I didn't respond. Duo and my relationship as partners could be used against me, so I kept my mouth shut.

He answered it, putting it on speaker, but he didn't say anything.

"Hello?" Duo's voice asked, sounding shaky. And for some reason, hearing Duo's voice made all my pain disappear and made my heart flutter.

"I assume by now you've already discovered Agent Yuy's absence," my torturer retorted with a smile.

"Yes," Duo answered, and I kept my face blank.

"He's being a tough little soldier right now. He can really put up with a lot, can't he?"

I prayed that Duo wouldn't give anything away, that he'd keep his cool and do his job. But, why wouldn't he? I'm just a partner and an old war buddy. Why would he react any different now that it was me in here? That thought made me feel… disappointed? I had no idea why, though.

"What do you want?" Duo finally asked.

I fought the cringe. We didn't negotiate with criminals. He wasn't doing this by the books. He was doing whatever he could to find me. Even though that was the last thing I wanted him to do, I couldn't help feeling happy.

"What do _I_ want?" the man laughed. "I want the thrill of having someone else's blood running down my hands, of having their screams of pain fill my ears. I want to see that look in their eyes as they realized they are taking their last breaths. That, my good sir, is what I want."

I shuddered, chasing away the mental images. I hoped that hadn't gotten to Duo, that he'd remain calm.

"Listen here, you asshole," Duo growled into the phone and I suppressed the sigh of disappointment. "You are a sick bastard, and you have messed with the wrong damned people. You lay a finger on him… harm a single hair on his head… I will find you, and I _will_ kill you. You understand, you prick?"

The man laughed and then walked up to me and plunged the dull blade into my other leg, matching the first wound.

"Too late," he grinned, twisting the blade.

I flinched, unable to hold it back. I was glad when I heard the line go dead. I didn't want Duo to hear this guy torturing me.

"Is that all I get?" the guy frowned.

I just looked up at him with blank eyes, giving him as little to work with as possible. I knew that Duo had traced the call and my torturer had definitely stayed on the line long enough. A team would be here shortly. I just had to put up with the pain a little longer…

"You see, my goal is to make you scream, and cry, and beg, and grovel, like a little schoolgirl. I want to make the big, bad, ex-Gundam pilot break down and show me who he really is."

I just stared at him, concentrating on feeling the blood flowing down my legs.

"I want to try something. I haven't tried it before, but I hear it is amazing if you want to hear your victims scream," he grinned deviously, licking the knife clean, then hanging it back on the wall. "I already got everything ready before I grabbed you, so it'll just take a moment for me to set it up, then the fun will begin."

I didn't let my fear show as he dragged a huge car battery in front of me. He took jumper cables and hooked the battery into the power outlet. Then, he took out another set of cables and attached them to the arms of the metal chair I was in. My heart accelerated and my breathing became shallow. I knew what was about to happen to me and, with a battery that size, it wasn't going to be pleasant. He sat down behind the battery, the two ends of the cables in each hand. He grinned maliciously, then touched the ends to the battery.

The lights flickered and there was a hideous buzzing sound as the strong electrical current coursed through me. I bit down on my tongue to keep from crying out. I couldn't give him any satisfaction. I felt the blood pool in my mouth, but didn't release my bite on my tongue. The currents made my body shake and my breathing became labored. My heart beat erratically and I was at serious risk of going into anaphylactic shock or cardiac arrest. He only completed the circuit for about ten seconds, but it felt so much longer.

When he finally broke the connection, I gasped, slouching forward. I panted and willed my heart to go back to its normal rhythm. I spit out the blood from my mouth continued to lean forward, trying to catch my breath.

"Still no reaction? Damn. You are one tough nut to crack, pilot 01, but I _will_ crack you. You just wait," he smirked.

No. I wouldn't let him do that. My shell was tough. It had to be considering my childhood and my life during the war.

The man turned up the juice, then connected the cables again. I was able to suppress the screams of pain, but I couldn't hold back the moans as my entire body convulsed. He kept the circuit connected longer this time. Only fifteen seconds, but it felt like hours. When he finally released the current, I slumped forward again, my heart threatening trying to commit suicide by throwing itself against my rib cage.

And when my torture leaned forward and unhooked the jumper cables from the chair, I had to suppress a sigh of relief.

"The problem with this form of torture is that if it's used too often and for too long, it'll kill you. And I don't want to kill you. Yet. I still have another twenty three and a half hours with you," he grinned, standing up. "So… let's move on, shall we? I have a whole bunch of stuff lined up for you."

I managed to get my heart rate under control and my breathing back to normal, but my entire body still stung. It still felt like I was being shocked.

"Well, for what I want to do next, you can't be sitting down, which means I need to move you. So…" he started, then grabbed a metal rod from the wall and brought it down towards my head. But just before it hit me, he stopped.

"Oh! I forgot to mention something, and I'd like you to hear it before I knock you out," he said, lowering the rod from above my head. "I'm sure you've assumed that your friend traced his call. I'm sure he did too. Which is why, before you woke up, I scattered the signal of your phone so that, even if he did end up with a location, it would be the wrong location. I also put in a voice distorter, so he won't be able to ID my voice."

Crap. This guy was better than I had originally assumed. He had a plan. And a guy with a plan was never good. I had to destroy his plan. But, how was the big question. You can't destroy what you don't know about. I needed to figure out his plan.

He raised the rod again and brought it down on the back of my head, ceasing all train of thought and plunging me into the darkness.

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**Ohdang. Poor Heero. So? I'm not very good at torture... Was it good? Not good? Too much? Not enough? I has no idea... Please review and tell me.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks for all of the reviews guys! It makes me feel loved XD Well here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

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Chapter 7

Duo POV

"I'm driving," I growled, jumping into the big black SUV and starting it up. I flipped on the sirens, then blasted out of the lot.

"Do you know where you're going, sir?" the officer asked me.

"No, which is why you are going to tell me where to go," I told him.

"Then why did you insist on driving, sir?"

"Because I drive fast," I retorted, pushing the SUV faster.

The cars weren't moving out of the way fast enough and it was frustrating me. I sat on the horn as I blasted down the streets. I heard sirens behind us and looked in the rear view mirror to see the SWAT van behind us, flanked by a few cop cars. The officer relayed me directions and communicated with the SWAT team over the radio.

"Take the next left, then it should be the warehouse at the end," the officer told me.

"Finally," I mumbled, spinning the wheel.

I skidded to a halt and jumped out of the SUV before it fully came to a halt. Pulling out my gun, I met the SWAT team at the door as they busted in the door. They stormed in first as I buckled the bulletproof vest they had thrown at me. I followed immediately behind them, kicking in door after door, looking for Heero. They all branched off, checking hallway after hallway, room after room.

There was no sign of anyone or anything ever being here in a long time. My heart started to accelerate at the thought of Heero not being here.

No. He had to be here. His cell was traced to this very location.

I approached the very last door and, without breaking my step, I shot the lock and kicked open the door. Empty.

"Clear!" I said into the radio.

"Clear!" the cop's voice echoed over the radio on my belt, followed by everyone else.

He wasn't here.

"He has to be here! Are there any signs of human activity at all? Look for drag marks, blood, hairs, food wrappers, anything thing that indicates any resent activity," I demanded.

"There is nothing here, sir. We've been tricked," the officer responded.

"How could we have been tricked? You can't fake a trace!" I yelled back, heading back towards the front of the warehouse.

"I don't know, but he's definitely not here, and hasn't been here."

"He's right, sir. It's pretty obvious no one has been in the building for years," the leader of the SWAT team vouched.

I exhaled sharply. "Alright. We'll head back to headquarters and further analyze the conversation. I might be able to figure out what happened. Agent Harris? You and your men are excused. But stay on call. Hopefully we'll need you soon," I told the leader of the SWAT team.

"Yes, sir. We'll be ready."

"Thank you," I sighed as I met up with the cop at the front of the building.

"Sorry that we weren't able to find him, sir," he apologized.

"Why are you sorry? It wasn't your fault that we got our asses handed to us like idiots," I retorted, but then sighed. "Sorry. Ignore that. I'm just stressed, and tired, and worried…" That word cut me off, because I then realized that I was more than just worried for Heero.

"That's understandable, sir," the cop responded simply.

I nodded. "You drive. All the adrenaline is gone and I'll end up falling asleep at the wheel," I told him, tossing him the keys.

Once back at the office, I headed straight for the lab. I made a copy of the conversation with the prick, then took it to my office. Pulling up some voice analyzer programs, I ran the conversation through again, hoping I could filter the voice and any background noises, or anything that could give away his location. But unfortunately, the only background noises the computer was able to pick out were the sounds of his breathing and the sounds of him stabbing Heero. Every time I played it back, I flinched at that horrible sound. I shuddered to think of were he was stabbing Heero.

There was a light knock on the door and Quatre walked in.

"What are you doing here so late?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"I… I heard about Heero. I want to help," he answered. "I'm so sorry Duo. How are you holding up?"

I exhaled sharply, dropping my head into my hands and running my fingers through my bangs. "I'm really tired," was all I could answer. I honestly didn't know how I was feeling. I was so messed up inside.

"You should get some rest," he suggested, walking up to my desk, his eyes full of sympathy.

"I can't! Heero is out there somewhere, getting stabbed and beaten and drugged and…" I tailed off, my voice breaking and my eyes stinging. "It's all my fault he's going through that right now. I need to find him, Quatre."

"I know, Duo. I know. And it's not your fault he's gone. It's his kidnappers fault. And now it's your job to find him and bring him back. But you are no use to him like this, Duo. He needs you at your best if he has any chance of making it out of this alive," he told me, kneeling down next to me.

"I don't think I would be able to fall asleep even if I wanted to. I… I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm a wreck. He's just my partner, just a colleague, but I… I feel…" I faltered, not knowing how to finish that sentence. What did I feel?

He placed a gently, caring hand on my back and looked up at me from under my bangs. "It's okay to feel like this about him, Duo. You've known each other so long and have been through so much together. He's not just your partner, or just your colleague. He's your friend, and it's normal to feel this way about a friend."

"But, I think… I think it might be something more that that… than just a friend…" I responded, tears running down my cheeks.

"You'll find him, Duo. I know you will. You are strong and determined. This guy doesn't stand a chance," Quatre comforted.

"Thanks, Quatre," I smiled, hastily wiping away the tears.

"Well, if you're not going to sleep, at least let me help you. Can you bring me up to speed?" he asked, pulling up a chair and pushing mine to the side.

"Well, about… one hour ago, the killer shut off power to the entire building. I managed to get the computer systems and security cameras back up, but nothing else, hence the darkness. That was just before the guy snuck up on us and grabbed Heero. We found security feed of Heero being dragged off, then tried to call Heero's cell to get a trace on it. The killer answered and I talked to him just long enough for the trace to finish, but he must've done something to the signal because the location we received wasn't the actual location. That is what I'm trying to figure out now. How could he possibly fake a signal like that?"

Quatre frowned. "Can I hear the conversation?"

I nodded and played it back. Quatre listened intently, flinching with me at the sound of the knife in Heero's flesh. Then his brow creased as he tried to think.

"Have you filtered the background noise looking for landmarks?" he asked and I nodded. "Run a voice filter?" Again, I nodded. "And Heero didn't say anything during the whole conversation? It was obvious he had it on speaker, so either Heero was very quiet, or he was…"

"No, he didn't say anything," I murmured. I was glad he hadn't finished that sentence.

"Call him again."

"What?" I asked, confused.

"We need to know if Heero is still… you know. Call him and demand to talk to Heero," Quatre insisted.

I hesitated, then pulled my phone out of my pocket. Before I could dial Heero's number, my computer beeped, telling me I had an email. It had a video file attached.

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**Uh oh... So? Can anyone guess whats? About to happen? Sorry for the cliff hanger... it just felt like the best place to end... Please review and I'll update as soon as possible.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Back to the torture! I feel bad, but... it was fun to write... Well, enjoy!**

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Chapter 8

Heero POV

A sharp _crack _woke me up, followed by a searing pain on my back. My wrists hurt and my rotator cuffs felt strained. It took me a moment to realize that I was upright and hanging by my wrists. The thick metal cuffs were digging into my skin and that was when I noticed that my feet weren't on the ground. There was another crack and my back stung again.

"Wake up, sleepy head!" the man laughed, whipping me again. His voice was muffled.

I hissed as the whip sliced into my back.

"Good! You're awake! How do you like this? I think it's fun," he grinned, cracking the whip into my back again.

I felt the blood trickling down my back and arms. I opened my eyes to the familiar metal room. I looked up to see my hands cuffed together, then a chain wrapped in between the cuffs and over a metal bar in the ceiling. Looking down, I noticed he didn't bother to bind my feet. That was a mistake. And he'd see exactly why as soon as I got the chance. But, if I was going to try anything, I needed to be sure that someone knew I was here in case I ended up killing him. If no one knows I'm in this room and I kill the guy, I could be stuck down here for a long time, unless I could get myself free. But, one look at the cuffs and chains proved that idea near impossible. I'd have to hold on for a little while longer. I also noticed that my shirt was gone.

My torturer stepped in front of me and I saw that he had put on a hood and was using my shirt as a makeshift bandana and was wearing a pair of sunglasses. Before I could wonder why he had completely masked his face, he pointed to the right corner of the room at a video camera set up on a tripod. The red light was on.

"Don't forget to smile," he said with a grin. "You're on TV."

I didn't show any emotion, even though I knew exactly who was watching. I kept my face blank. I didn't care, is what I wanted him to think.

"I didn't want to be the only one who got to see you break down and cry, so I thought I'd share it with that guy who called and whoever else happens to be in the room when he opens that email. I got his contact info from your phone, in case you were wondering. I was going to cut the sound so that they wouldn't hear me talking to you, but what fun is it if they can't actually hear you scream? So instead, I just muffled my voice. And feel free to talk to him, by the way. I won't stop you."

I didn't talk. Anything I said to Duo, he could figure a deeper meaning and use it against me, so I had to keep quiet. And he knew that. That's why he's not worried about me talking to someone on the outside. He also knows that I have no idea where we are. If he thought I had any idea, he wouldn't allow me to talk to Duo.

When he raised the whip, I had suddenly wished that he was bluffing, that Duo wasn't watching this. I didn't want him to see this. And not out of pride. I didn't care about pride. But because I didn't want him to watch me get the crap beaten out of me. I knew he'd feel guilty about me getting captured. He was so determined to keep me safe. I didn't want him to know what was happening to me and add onto his guilt.

The whip sliced through the bare skin on my chest and stomach and cringed back, my stomach bowing and my knees raising up. The weight change on my wrists caused the cuffs to cut more into my skin. He raised the whip and slashed it across my stomach again, leaving a bloody X shape on my skin.

Then, he slipped a large knife off the wall. He stepped up close to me and ran the tip of the knife across my throat, drawing just the smallest bit of blood. Then he trailed it lighter down across my collar bone and down my chest, then my abdomen. He didn't draw any blood, but just the feeling of the blade on my bare skin was enough. He brought the knife back up, then made the X shaped cuts from the whip deeper. I cringed back slightly, clenching my jaw and trying not to utter anything. Then he moved to my back and did the same with the four slashes there.

"You weren't bleeding enough," he explained quietly.

It was hard to keep my mouth shut, knowing that Duo was watching this. I almost told him to stop watching. Almost told him to not worry about me, that I'd be fine until he could figure it out. But I bit my tongue. I didn't want my torturer using anything against me.

My torturer then stepped back around me as he licked the blood off of his knife and hung it back on the wall. He then dragged forward the battery and took the cables off the wall. He smiled and I couldn't hide the cringe. He caught it.

"You don't like this, do you? Well, you probably don't like any of it, but you especially don't like this," he realized. "That's good to know."

Shit. He hooked the end of the jumper cables to the metal cuffs on my wrists, then leaned down to touch the cables to the battery. Just before he touched them, something in his pocket beeped. He pulled out some sort of device and checked it, then stood.

"I'll be back, pretty boy," he told me, then left.

The second the door was closed, I released a deep sigh, hanging my head.

"Duo," I found myself saying, keeping my head down. It was hard keeping my voice from breaking. Hard to keep form showing Duo how much pain I was actually in… "Don't watch this…. Just concentrate on this job… and don't worry about me. Okay? I'll be fine… until you find me."

The next minute, the guy walked in.

"False alarm," he smiled. Then, in a quieter voice so Duo couldn't hear, "I have proximity alarms set up around the building. It was just a stray dog."

I didn't respond, didn't give him anything.

"Now, back to business," he smiled, picking up the jumper cables.

I hoped to god that Duo had listened to me about not watching as he completed the circuit and the electricity flowed through me. My back arched, my head threw back, and my entire body shook. The chains rattled and my wrists and shoulders seared with the strain of holding up my weight. He cut the circuit and I gasped, my head falling forward and my chest heaving.

"Again?" he smiled. "Let's up the voltage. I'm still waiting to hear you scream."

I cringed as he upped the outage, then connected the cables. I ground my teeth as the electricity coursed through me. I almost lost it, but he ended the circuit. I gasped again as the current stopped. I tried to force my heart back into a normal rhythm and tried to take deep breaths.

"I think I know what will get you to scream," he suddenly smiled, pulling off the jumper cables and kicking the battery to the wall again.

He grabbed a lighter off of the wall and turned it on.

"A simple flame on skin isn't all that bad," he started, running the flame across my side and arms. "Well, of course it's bad, but not as bad as it is on an open wound."

He moved the flame to the cuts on my chest and stomach and I flinched away from it, almost letting out a scream, but able to keep it to a groan instead. The pain seared in my wounded flesh, the skin burning. It felt like it was melting off. I almost lost it.

"Ooh! A slight reaction! I hope you heard that!" he called in the direction of the camera. I hoped he didn't. I hoped he wasn't watching. Please, Duo, for once in your life, actually listen to me…

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**Well? Please don't hurt me... I feel bad about hurting him but... it was just too much fun! I'll need to write a sappy lovey dovey fic next to make up for it XD Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry I forgot to post last night. I was really sick and completely forgot. I'll make it up to you guys by posting two chapters today. So... thanks for the reviews and enjoy!**

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Chapter 9

Duo POV

I hesitated in opening the file, afraid of what I was going to find. Quatre looked worried, and I'm sure I did too. I took a deep breath, then opened it. I couldn't suppress the gasp.

It was a video of Heero. He was bound by his wrists and suspended about a foot off the ground. There was dark red blood running down the white skin of his arms due to the metal cuffs. He was shirtless and his pants were tattered. I could see the two bloody holes just above his knees from where he'd been stabbed. His head was hanging forward and his mess of chocolate brown hair hung over his eyes, shielding them from my view. Along the walls were hundreds of tools. Knifes, pliers, whips, ropes, cables, syringes, sharp objects, objects I had no idea what they were. I think my heart stopped at the sight of Heero in this horrible room.

Suddenly, a man walked in the room. He was wearing a hood, Heero's shirt over his mouth like a bandana, and a pair of sunglasses. He walked up Heero and looked into his eyes.

"Asleep huh? I think I should change that," the man said.

"Can you run a voice recognition thing on that?" Quatre asked hurriedly.

"No. His voice is too muffled by the shirt," I responded.

The man picked up a large whip off the wall and sauntered behind Heero. My breath caught as he raised the whip. When he brought the whip down on Heero's back with a crack, I couldn't suppress the cringe. Quatre gasped, his hands shooting up to cover his mouth.

"Wake up sleepy head!" the guy laughed, snapping the whip into Heero's back again.

Heero hissed and I cringed.

"Good! You're awake! How do you like this? I think it's fun," he smiled cracking the whip again.

I was frozen. It was one thing just thinking about Heero getting tortured and a completely different thing actually watching it. I felt immediately guilty. It was my fault he was in this situation. If I had just kept up my guard…

"Duo, it's not you're fault. Don't blame yourself," Quatre told me, his voice slightly shaky.

I didn't respond to that. It was my fault. I was blaming myself.

The man walked around Heero and stood in front of him. He looked at Heero for a while, then lifted his hand to point at the camera.

"Don't forget to smile," he told Heero. "You're on TV."

Heero didn't respond. My bet was that he hadn't said anything the entire time. He was good about keeping quiet and not giving away anything.

"I didn't want to be the only one who got to see you break down and cry, so I thought I'd share it with that guy who called and whoever else happens to be in the room when he opens that email," the man told Heero, his voice a sneer. "I got his contact info from your phone, in case you were wondering. I was going to cut the sound so that they wouldn't hear me talking to you, but what fun is it if they can't actually hear you scream? So instead, I just muffled my voice. And feel free to talk to him, by the way. I won't stop you."

Don't say anything, Heero, I begged in my head. But I knew he wouldn't say anything. He was smarter than that. The guy must think that Heero doesn't know where they are, which means he was out the entire way to the room, and there were no windows.

The man raised up the whip and I felt my eyes starting to sting as the whip sliced through the smooth skin of his chest. Heero nearly doubled over, his knees raising towards his chest and his body bowing. The metal cuffs cut deeper into the skin of his wrists because of the shift in weight. The guy lashed out with the whip again, leaving a gruesome X on Heero's chest and abdomen.

I didn't want to watch this anymore, but I couldn't tear my eyes from the screen. I almost sighed in relief when the evil bastard coiled the whip and hung it back on the wall. But then he pulled a large knife off of the wall and walked up to Heero. He ran the blade across his throat, drawing a little bit of blood. He then moved the knife down to his stomach. He stuck the knife into the whip marks and made the X deeper. I winced, imagining the pain that would cause. The guy moved back around Heero and cut into the marks on his back also. I could see Heero wince and it shattered my heart. Why couldn't it be me? Why couldn't I be in there and Heero be safe here?

"You weren't bleeding enough," he explained quietly to Heero and I frowned in anger.

The guy then stepped over to the wall, licking the blood off of the knife. I felt disgusted and I'm sure my face relayed that feeling. But it turned to a look of horror as the guy started to drag out a large car battery connected to a power outlet. No, he wouldn't do that…

"That'll kill him!" I yelled jumping out of my hair. "We have over twenty two hours left you asshole! We need to do something!"

"Like what, Duo?" Quatre asked me.

I didn't know how to answer as the guy took a pair of jumper cables off the wall. Heero cringed and the guy caught it.

"You don't like this, do you? Well, you probably don't like any of it, but you especially don't like this," the man sneered. "That's good to know."

"We need to stop him!" I shouted. "Call him!"

"What—"

"Call Heero's cell! We need to distract him!" I yelled at Quatre, pulling out my cell as the man connected the cables to Heero's metal cuffs.

But before I could call Heero's phone, something beeped. It took us a second to realize that it came from the computer. The guy hesitated, then pulled something out of his pocket and looked at it.

"I'll be back, pretty boy," he told Heero, then left the room.

I exhaled sharply, collapsing back into my chair and letting my head drop into my hands.

"Duo," Heero's weak voice suddenly said and my head snapped up. It was obvious he was trying to hide his pain. "Don't watch this…. Just concentrate on this job… and don't worry about me. Okay? I'll be fine… until you find me."

"Heero…" I breathed, running my fingers over the screen. "I'm sorry, Heero."

The man then walked back in the room. "False alarm," he smiled.

Then, he leaned in close and whispered something in Heero's ear. I quickly turned up the volume and started an analyzer, trying to pick up what he was saying. I wasn't able to catch anything, which frustrated me.

"Now, back to business," the man smirked and bent down to pick up the jumper cables.

"No!" I shouted at the computer

The man connected the cables and I quickly turned my head away, listening to Heero and not watching. My body shook and my heart rate raced loudly in my ears. I couldn't comprehend all of the feelings that were flowing through me. I recognized hatred, anger, fear, guilt, and pain, but there were other emotions that were unknown to me and I couldn't make sense of.

I heard the horrid buzzing stopped and I looked back at the screen, expecting to see a lifeless body hanging in the chains. But Heero was still alive, breathing heavily. I let out a sigh of relieve. That man was so much stronger than I could ever have imagined. That gave me some hope. Deep down, I suddenly felt easier, hopeful.

I stood up with a copy of the video up to now in my hand to take down to the lab. But just before I turned to leave, I heard the man talk again.

"Again?" his voice asked. "Let's up the voltage. I'm still waiting to hear you scream."

I hesitated. I didn't want to hear Heero get tortured anymore, but I couldn't move. I heard the gut wrenching electric buzzing sound and I cringed. My heart raced until I heard it cut off. I continued to the door, but again, the man's voice stopped me.

"I think I know what will get you to scream," he told Heero.

I turned slowly back to the monitor to see him putting away the battery, then grab a lighter off of the shelf. I held my breath as the man explained to Heero that a simple flame on normal skin isn't all that bad. But, on an open wound, it's terrible. I swallowed hard as I watched the man run the flame over the undamaged skin of Heero's side, then move it to the X shaped wounds on his chest. The sounds that came from Heero's lips shattered my heart. He was trying so hard not to cry out, but the moans escaped his lips anyway.

"Ooh! A slight reaction! I hope you heard that!" the bastard called to us.

"Yes, I heard it. And I'm going to make you pay dearly for it," I growled under my breath as I stormed out of the room.

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**So... sorry again for forgetting to post... I'll post another chapter tonight hopefully. Today was our last day of school (yaaay!) so expect a lot of post from me from now on XD Please review.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Well here you go! Two chapters in one day. Yaaay XD Now on witht the torture!**

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Chapter 10

Heero POV

I lost track of time. I guessed it to be maybe ten hours after he turned on the video camera, which I had assumed was about an hour after he grabbed me. But I couldn't be sure about any of those times, because he had knocked me out many times. He had been counting down the hours though, so I had a rough estimate. Last time he said something, he said I had fifteen hours left, and it feels like it's been two or three hours since then. But as time slowly and painfully ticked by, I was starting to get nervous. I had expected Duo to have figured it out by now.

In those ten plus hours of torture, he had whipped me some more, electrocuted me, burned me with fire, burned me with acid, stabbed and cut me. I was still suspended by my wrists and they both felt broken. One of my shoulders felt dislocated and the other felt like it was about to pop out of its socket as well. I felt dizzy and light headed from loss of blood and felt nauseous from the constant pain and torture. The entire time, the video camera continued to record, but I never had the chance to talk to Duo. The guy had left the room once to take care of something, but had gagged me before he left since I knew about the proximity alarms.

"Let's try something new," he said, pulling a pair of large pliers off the wall.

I was afraid to think what he was about to do with those. He walked up to me and opened them, then snapped them closed again. He played with them for a minute, then opened them and plunged them into my stomach and closed them. I let out a cry of surprise and pain and he grinned.

"Awesome! After twelve long hours, I finally get a decent response from you," he laughed.

He twisted the pliers sharply and I couldn't stop the cry of pain. He jerked the pliers away, taking with them a large chunk of my flesh. I winced and panted, doubling over as much as this position would let me.

"What? No tears?" he asked in mock disappointment. "I was really hoping you'd cry for me."

I didn't make eye contact. It was bad enough I slipped up, I wasn't going to let him see the pain in my eyes. But it didn't matter. He took a fistful of my hair and jerked up my head. He saw the pain in my face and he grinned, playing with the pliers.

"I'm still waiting for tears," he informed me, driving the open pliers into my stomach again.

He dug in deeper just next to the wound he gave me a moment ago. No matter how much I tried, how hard I clamped down on my tongue, how tight I pulled on my emotionless mask, I couldn't hold back the cry of pain. It was worse than being burned, stabbed, and whipped, but not as bad as being electrocuted. I assumed it was because of the intense pain I was already in and the twelve hours of continuous torture that my control was slipping. I could feel the mental torture starting to kick in. I wasn't just starting to losing control of my body, but of my mind as well.

He twisted the pliers and I gasped.

"I'm still waiting," he growled, stepping into me so he could force the pliers deeper.

I gritted my teeth, a moan escaping my lips. I was completely losing it. I had been able to hold onto my little bit of control with a death grip earlier, but now it was just too much, the pain too unbearable. I couldn't hold on any more. I was slipping. But one thought, one word, one name, kept me holding on with the last ounces of strength I could muster up. Duo. I don't know why, but as soon as I thought of him, of his mysterious purple eyes, his glowing personality, his strong determination, I was able to clamp down on the pain, suppress it to the back of my thoughts and endure whatever this guy threw at me.

The man growled, licking off the pliers and hanging them back up on the wall. He picked up the bottle of acid and walked up to me, splashing it into the two wounds he had just made. I cringed, gritting my teeth against the pain as the acid burned my wounded flesh. He moved on to the flame, burning with fire rather than acid in my wounds. It hurt to no end, but I was just able to keep my mouth shut. The torture was definitely starting to get to me mentally though. I felt that ever waiting insanity creeping closer and closer, waiting for me to snap.

Along with my sanity, I could feel my hope starting to slip away as time continued on. It was another eleven hours later. I had one hour left. Sixty minutes until my life was over. Duo should've figured this out long ago. He should've been here hours ago. But, then again, we've been chasing this guy for over a month already and hadn't been able to get anywhere. What was so different now that it was me? The only differences I could think of, was that we knew who the victim was, knew that he had the victim already, and had the entire thing on live video. That wasn't much to work with. I'm sure Duo was running every test, every analysis, every inspection he could think of on the tape, but I doubted he'd be able to get anywhere with it.

The thing in his pocket beeped again. He frowned and looked down at it.

"I'll be right back," he told me half mindedly. Something was obviously bothering him. He walked out the door, forgetting to gag me and not bothering to close the door behind him.

Outside the door was a hallway. There was a sign posted on the wall that read 'Storeroom' and an arrow pointing right, and below that 'loading dock' and an arrow pointing right. That was the way my torturer had gone. I heard another door open and heard the sound of water crashing against a wooden dock. We were on the water and in a warehouse. And, judging by the rust, peeled paint, and dented signs on the wall, it was abandoned. By simply leaving the door to the room open when he left, he narrowed Duo's search down from a twenty minute drive radius, to a couple warehouses along the water.

"Duo. I'm being held in a warehouse… somewhere along the dock. It's abandoned… I think. There are proximity alarms… set up around the building," I forced through the pain. I hoped he had caught that.

It took longer than I had expected for the man to return. But not long enough. He came back about fifteen minutes later, slamming the door closed behind him and storming straight for the wall.

"I'm tired of waiting for you to beg and I don't have much time left to force that reaction. As much as I want to hear it, I'm going to kill you in just over half an hour whether I get it or not. Usually by now, I'm getting sick of my victims begging and pleading, but you…," he shook his head, grabbing a large knife off of the wall. "It goes against everything I stand for; messing with men's… parts. But I want to hear you beg. And besides, it's not like you need them anymore anyway," he grinned, walking up to me and taking hold of the hem of my pants.

This was going too far. I wasn't going to sit back and let him castrate me. As much as I would have preferred to tough it out just a little longer and give Duo a few more minutes to find me, I had to act. Before he could pull down my pants, I swung one leg up, twisting my body for leverage, and knocked the knife out of his hand. It sliced a long gash up his arm as it went flying. He looked surprised for a moment, then pulled back his fist to punch me. He was too late though and I had already brought my legs up and wrapped them around his neck tight, squeezing the life out of him. He fought and my wrists and shoulders protested loudly against the struggle. He managed to grab up the knife from the floor and slammed it into my leg. My leg screamed in pain, but I kept a tight hold around his neck. I was so weak. I wasn't nearly as strong as I had hoped I would be, but soon, he stopped moving and I released him. He fell to the ground in a slump below me and I exhaled a huge sigh of relief. But I wasn't out of the woods yet. I had to hope that Duo would get my message and come to get me before I starved to death. Or bled out, I added, realizing that this guy had deadly accuracy even while in a death grip. He had managed to shove the knife into my leg in just the spot where it severed the femoral artery. As long as the knife stayed in my leg, it would block the blood flow out of the artery, keeping the blood in my body. But if I wasn't found soon, I wouldn't have a chance.

I looked up at the chains, looking for a way to get out of the cuffs. I took a careful look at how well the bolts were bolted into the ceiling where the pipe I was hanging off of was connected. Maybe, if I could stress it enough, they would break and I would be free. I wrapped my fingers around the chains, then took a deep breath and pulled myself up a little, then let my weight fall back down onto the pipe. Pain shot through my wrists and shoulders, making me groan in pain. The knife jerked in my leg and fell to the ground, releasing the flood gates of blood. Nothing happened. Not even a creak. I exhaled sharply. And, as my body felt on the verge of a shut down from loss of blood, I realized that it was up to Duo now, that there was nothing more I could do.

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**So sorry for the big time jump in teh beginning, but it would've taken forever to get that far if i continued like I was... So there you go. Please review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**So... back to Duo POV... so yeah... here you go... Enjoy.**

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Chapter 11

Duo POV

Time was going by too fast. We weren't getting anywhere in the investigation and Heero's time was almost up. I had watched the sun rise, then set again without getting any closer to finding him. I could hardly concentrate, hardly function. I had been up going on thirty five hours and was working on my fifteenth cup of coffee, but I couldn't stay awake. I ended up falling asleep at my computer, watching the live video.

I woke with a start a few minutes later by the sound of beeping. My heart stopped and I couldn't breathe, thinking it was my watch telling me that time was up, that Heero was dead. But it wasn't. My watch said I had another fifty minutes until Heero was killed.

It was a device on the other side of the monitor. The killer pulled something out of his pocket and looked at it. Then, he left the room, seeming flustered.

"I'll be right back," he murmured to Heero, concentrating fully on the device.

He didn't gag Heero and I didn't hear the sound of the door closing. A moment later, Heero spoke.

"Duo. I'm being held in a warehouse… somewhere along the dock. It's abandoned… I think. There are proximity alarms… set up around the building," he forced, sounding like he was in terrible pain.

I was out of my chair in a flash, jamming my gun into the holster on my belt and sprinting down the hall. I speed dialed Agent Harris and the SWAT team and he answered immediately.

"We've narrowed down the search radius. Have your men saddle up and meet me at the docks. We have about forty five minutes," I told him hurriedly.

"Yes, sir. I was afraid your call was never going to come, sir."

"Yeah, me too," I answered, my voice shaky.

I swallowed hard, hanging up my cell as I jumped into a Preventers SUV. I flipped on the lights and sirens as I blasted out of the parking garage. It hit me hard at the realization of just how close we had come to running out of time. But it wasn't over yet. We may have a lead on Heero's location, but he was still with that killer, and who knew what could happen to him before we get there, or if we'd even get there on time. My heart accelerated at the thought of how close I had come to losing Heero, at how close I still was to losing Heero. Images of finding him, bloody, broken, and dead, hanging in those chains made my eyes sting. All those foreign emotions, the emotions I had grown used to in the past twenty three hours, were wreaking havoc in my head. But I still couldn't put names to any of them. I wanted to know what they were, and what they meant. And I wanted to know why they were centered around the fact that Heero was in danger, that he could die, that I might never see him again.

I pushed the SUV faster, hastily wiping the tears from my eyes and heading off towards the loading docks. It was a small port. It had at most five warehouses on the water. But they were large warehouses that covered a lot of land, and we were running out of time. Hopefully we'd be able to locate Heero before his time ran out, but that was starting to become very unlikely. The SWAT van pulled up behind me and followed me towards the docks.

"He's in one of the warehouses on the water," I told them over the radio. "Use caution. We don't want the killer to know we're here until we have him pinned to the ground and in cuffs. We don't want to give him the opportunity to kill Heero before we can grab him, so no hesitations. We enter and grab him immediately. I want him on the ground before he even has a chance to turn around."

"Got it, sir," Agent Harris responded.

"Heero told me that there are proximity alarms, so keep your guard. Sweep for them as soon as we get there," I demanded.

"Yes, sir."

We finally pulled up to the warehouses and I pulled on a bullet proof vest as I jumped out of the SUV. I checked my watch as the SWAT team suited up. Twenty minutes. I swallowed hard and took off towards the first warehouse without waiting for their backup. We didn't have time.

Three men caught up to me though as I kicked in the door to the first warehouse and ran inside. I checked room after room, hoping to god that Heero was here. But he wasn't. My section was clear and I got similar reports from the other three men.

"We aren't detecting any alarms," one of the other SWAT men told me as he met me exiting the warehouse. He was holding some clunky device and reading its reports.

I nodded. The killer had probably been trying to scare Heero and us into making a mistake and waiting to long. I continued to the next building. It had a padlock on the outside, which meant that it was occupied. I skipped it, remembering what Heero had said about the warehouse he was in being abandoned. I hoped he was right as I sprinted to the next building. I heard some men entering it anyway as I busted in the door to the next warehouse. This one was bigger and had many more rooms. It took too long to sweep it, then discover it was empty. Ten minutes left.

At the next warehouse, I kicked open the door and ran in, the SWAT team right on my tail, guns held at the ready. I commanded for the other men to branch off and take different sectors. This one was even bigger than the last. I ran down the main hall, busting in door after door. My section was empty.

"All clear," one of the men said over the radio.

"Same in the right wing," another answered.

"Ditto. This place is empty," the last man responded.

"It's the last building!" I shouted over the radio, sprinting back down the hall.

I nearly collided with the other men as we ran through the doorway and across the dock to the last remaining building. My watch beeped, telling me I had sixty seconds until Heero's time was up. This was way too close for comfort. I didn't know what I'd do if I was too late, if I found Heero dead. I'd start by killing the bastard, that was for sure. Screw the regulations, I though as I busted in the door and started my search for Heero.

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**Ohhh... it's getting pretty close to the end... That makes me kind of sad actually... I don't want it to end :( Well, it has to end eventually. I'll post the next chapter tomorrow. Please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Well, here's the next chapter. Enjoy. And thanks to all of you who reviewed my last chapter.**

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Chapter 12

Heero POV

My heart rate was starting to slow down, my breathing becoming shallow and slow. I felt insanely dizzy from the huge loss of blood. I was starting to slip away, into the darkness. I needed to keep myself awake, and pain was the best way to do that. So every time I felt myself starting to slip, I gave a sharp jerk with my dislocated shoulder, sending pain searing down my shoulder and wrist. I needed to stay awake as long as possible, give Duo a chance. He was smart; he would've figured out my message and would come to the docks. If he had gotten my message, that was. If he had respected my wishes earlier and stopped watching the video, he could never receive my message. I could never see Duo again. That thought made a whole different kind of pain sear in my heart. This pain was worse than any other pain I had endured today, though I didn't know why. I wanted desperately to figure out the meaning of these emotions before I died. I didn't want to die not knowing. I made it my new mission on top of staying alive. Hopefully concentrating hard on this would solve both though. If I gave my mind something to work on, it might stay in the here and now rather than slipping away.

It wasn't long before I heard the sirens. It was comforting to hear a noise other than the sound of my blood dripping on the floor. The sirens shut off. They were here. Duo had gotten my message. He had come for me.

There was a beeping in the man's pocket. The proximity alarms were going off. What I didn't expect was for the man to wake up. I hadn't killed him.

He stood, rubbing his neck as he pulled out the device and looked it over. When he realized it was the proximity alarms, he tensed immediately.

"They're here. They've out smarted you," I growled at him. "You've been caught."

His eyes widened. He picked up the knife from the ground and started to drive it towards my heart. I was ready for such attacks and, with lightning fast reflexes, I kicked the knife from his hand. It went flying from the man's hand. He staggered backwards towards the door. He wasn't going to bother to kill me, I realized. He was going to flee. Hopefully Duo got the place surrounded and he wouldn't escape. This man couldn't be allowed out on the streets again. Too many people had died already. He flung open the door and ran the opposite way from the docks. He was going out the back doors. He was going to get away.

The sudden adrenaline rush faded immediately and I could feel the darkness struggling to get it's icy claw around me and pull me under. I fought it though. I wiggled around, upsetting my wounds and sending endorphins flooding through my system. I needed to give Duo time. He was here, I just had to stay awake long enough for him to find me.

I heard the doors slam open in the warehouse next to this one and men scurrying around. I wanted to call out, tell them I was in here, but I couldn't find my voice. I was too weak. I was having a hard time even moving around and causing pain to keep me awake.

Just when I felt myself slipping, I heard the doors getting busted open, then Duo appeared in the doorway, gun raised and ready to shoot. His eyes widened when he saw me and he lowered his gun when he realized the man wasn't here.

"Find him!" he ordered the other men, then turned back to face me.

Without breaking stride, he walked right up to me, took my face in his hands, stood up on the tips of his toes, then fused his lips to my bloody ones. I was surprised at first, but then I sank into his embrace, welcoming it. All those little foreign emotions that had been nagging at the back of my head at every thought of Duo exploded within me. Was this what they meant? Were my feelings for Duo stronger than just feelings for a partner? All those questions and feelings suddenly made sense as I realized that my feelings did go deeper than a normal partnership, that I was in love with Duo.

He broke it off a moment later, but I wished that he hadn't. When I looked down at him, he seemed just as shocked as I felt. He smiled slightly and shook his head, then wrapped his arm securely around my waist before shooting the chains. I fell into him and he lost his balance, falling back onto the ground, still holding me tight against his body. My arms seared as blood hurried to flow back into them. My back ached as my disks compressed back together the way they were supposed to be. My shoulders stung for a moment at being in this new position, but then the pain subsided quickly now that my weight was off of them.

Duo quickly ripped a piece off of his shirt and made a makeshift tourniquet around my leg above the knife wound. The bleeding slowed, but not enough. I was still losing too much blood.

The other men then entered the room. "He's not here, sir. He's gone."

"What?" Duo snapped, turning to look at them. "Forget about him. Get a medic here now!"

They nodded and ran out of the room as Duo lifted me into his arms and hurried out the door.

"No. We need… to find him…" I told Duo, my voice sounding weak.

"We will, Heero, I promise. But right now we need to get you medical attention, or you won't make it. And I am going to do whatever it takes to see that you do."

I didn't respond, just stared up into Duo's beautiful violet eyes. My entire body screamed in pain as Duo ran across the dock and towards the approaching ambulance, but I fought to hide it from him.

"I'm so sorry, Heero. I should've been more alert. I shouldn't have let that bastard do all those things to you. I won't fail you again, Heero. I promise. You're safe now. Stay with me," Duo murmured to me.

I wanted to. I wanted to stay with Duo forever and never leave him. But I couldn't keep my eyes open and the darkness slowly started to claim me.

The last words I heard Duo murmur before the darkness took me, were, "I love you, Heero."

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**Yay. But wait, there's more! Sorry I just had to say that XD This isn't the end. There will be a few more chapters, I promise. Please review and I'll update as soon as I can tomorrow.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Sorry I couldn't post this chapter yesterday. I was in Yosemite all day. I'll try and post two today to make up for it. Thanks to all of you who reviewed my last chapter. They were greatly appreciated XD Enjoy!**

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Chapter 13

Duo POV

The sight in front of me was even more horrible than it had been on tape. Heero was hanging from the ceiling, covered in blood and gashes and burns and bruises. My heart shattered at the sight and for a moment I thought I was too late. But then I noticed the faint rise and fall of his chest. He was just barely alive, his head hanging and his eyes nearly closed. He looked up at me as I entered the room. The killer wasn't in here, so I lowered my gun, but didn't drop my guard.

"Find him!" I ordered the SWAT team as they entered the building.

Suddenly, I found myself striding across the room towards Heero and, taking myself completely by surprise, I took his bloody face in my hands and fused my lips to his. Was this what I had been feeling? Were all those foreign emotions fear for the man I loved? Love… it felt like such a strange term, but somehow… it felt appropriate, fitting. Because, as Heero started to kiss me back, I realized it wasn't just appropriate, but true. I was in love with Heero.

I pulled away from Heero reluctantly, still somewhat shocked. I found myself smiling as I wrapped my free arm around Heero's fragile waist, then raised the gun to shoot the chains. Heero collapsed into me, unable to support his own weight. I fell back, but pulled Heero into me to hopefully cushion his fall. He was so weak. He laid against my chest, his head resting on my collar bone. His heart rate was slow and weak, his breathing shallow and uneven. He was slipping.

I saw the blood flowing from his leg and I quickly ripped a strip off of my shirt and tied it tight above the wound, blocking off as much blood flow as I could, but he was still losing too much blood.

The SWAT team then entered the room and announced that the killer wasn't here, that he had gotten away.

"What?" I shouted, whirling around to look at them. I had to get my priorities in order though. As bad as it was that the killer was back out on the streets, Heero needed my full attention. "Forget about him. Get a medic here now!"

They nodded and ran back out of the room, calling an ambulance. I lifted Heero into my arms, surprised at how light he felt. That was when I noticed how skinny he was, and how pale he was. He was completely drained.

"No," Heero murmured, his voice sounding strained. "We need… to find him…"

"We will, Heero, I promise," I reassured him. "But right now we need to get you medical attention, or you won't make it. And I am going to do whatever it takes to see that you make it."

He didn't respond. He was too weak. I had never seen Heero like this before and it scared me. He was always so strong, so brave, so… indestructible. Seeing him like this, broken, battered, bruised, and beaten, was so… unbearable.

I heard the sirens as I ran along the dock. The ambulance rolled up next to the SWAT van and three paramedics jumped out of the vehicle.

"I'm so sorry, Heero. I should've been more alert. I shouldn't have let that bastard do all those things to you. I won't fail you again, Heero. I promise. You're safe now. Stay with me," I begged of him, hoping he could still hear me. He looked about ready to pass out.

Then, without even thinking, I murmured, "I love you, Heero."

I could've sworn I had seen him smile before he was out.

"I need help over here!" I ordered and the paramedics rolled over a gurney.

I helped them strap Heero's unconscious body into the gurney and followed them to the ambulance.

"I'm riding with him," I told them as they loaded Heero into the van.

They nodded and I hoped in, sitting down next to Heero and taking his hand in mine. The medics hooked up a heart monitor and an IV line, then started to work on closing Heero's major wounds. Suddenly, Heero's monitor started to flat line.

"Dammit!" one of the medics cursed. "He's crashing! He's lost too much blood!"

"We have the same blood type," I told him quickly, jerking up my sleeve. "Take some of mine.

The medic nodded sharply, then jammed a large syringe into my arm as the other pulled out the defibrillators and started to shock Heero's heart back into rhythm. I flinched at every time he pushed the buttons. Three times… four times… five times… No change.

"Dan, there's nothing more we can do. Time of death?" the other medic insisted.

"No!" I shouted, my eyes stinging. "Keep trying!"

Dan nodded, shocking him again. Nothing. My own heart was starting to flat line now. Heero's not going to die… He _can't_ die… All of those times during the war… being shot twice, jumping from a fifty story building without a parachute, self-detonated his Gundam while standing on it… How could he die now?

"Again!" I demanded, my voice breaking.

Two more times. Still nothing.

"If we try any more—" Dan started.

"I don't care! Keep trying!"

They shocked him again and it worked. The monitor started a slow, weak beat and I exhaled a sigh of relief, my eyes watering.

"God Heero… don't do that to me ever again," I breathed.

The medic drawing my blood exhaled too, giving Heero the vile of blood.

"Good call, sir," he told me. "I apologize. I just want to warn you know, that if he pulls through, he could have slight brain damage."

"It's alright, I don't care, just… just keep him alive."

They both nodded and Dan started chest compressions to keep Heero's heart beating. The ambulance came to a stop and the back doors were thrown open. A few nurses and paramedics unloaded Heero from the van and I followed them as they wheeled him down the long hall and straight into the operating rooms. They stopped outside the door and told me to wait outside.

"Would you like to say goodbye?" one of the nurses asked me. "Just in case he doesn't make it?"

"No," I swallowed, shaking my head. "He'll make it. He has to."

She nodded and they opened the doors.

"Wait!" I blurted and stepped forward to lightly kiss Heero's unresponsive lips before they took him into the operating room.

I just stood there for a moment, not sure what to do. I collapsed back into the chair, hastily wiping the tears from my eyes. As the adrenaline started to wear away, I felt completely exhausted. I dropped my head into my hands and heaved a shaky sigh. It took a lot of effort to convince myself that Heero would be okay. He had looked so broken, so pale, so… gone. Eventually, the thirty six hours of no sleep caught up to me and I fell asleep thinking about Heero.

…

I was startled awake by the sound of my phone ringing. I rubbed away the sleep and looked at my watch. It was almost four in the morning, which meant Heero had been in surgery for going on four hours. And my body definitely felt like I had slept in a hard plastic chair for four hours. I pulled my cell out of my pocket and brought up my knees so I could lean my head on them.

"Maxwell," I answered groggily.

"How's Heero?" Quatre's voice asked.

"I… I don't know. His heart gave out in the ambulance on the way here and he's been in surgery for the past four hours," I responded, heavily a shaky sigh.

"I'm sorry, Duo. Well, I called to tell you that there is no sign of this guy. He's gone completely off the radar."

"What…?" I asked, confused.

"I've taken over your case," he told me.

"But—"

"No buts. You have been working this case for forty straight hours and Heero needs you with him right now, and I'm sure you want to be by his side right now," he explained, then added, "I was watching the tape when you found him."

"Oh…" was all I could manage.

"I always knew you felt that way about him… even if you didn't," Quatre pointed out, and I could hear the smile in his voice. "I'll keep you updated on the case, and could you keep me updated on Heero please?"

"Of course," I responded.

"Bye Duo, and good luck."

"Yeah," I sighed, hanging up and shoving the cell back into my pocket.

A few minutes later, the doors opened up and a doctor stuck his head out, looking for me. He saw me and walked over to me.

"Is he okay?" I asked him, standing.

"He made it through the surgery. His heart did stop twice on the table though. We put an external pacemaker on his chest to keep his heart in rhythm until it can maintain it on its own. Other injuries include dislocated left shoulder, stressed rotator cuffs, broken left wrist, sprained right wrist, stab wounds to both legs, many lacerations to his back, chest, and abdomen, muscle damage to his abdomen, and also internal damage consistent with electrocution," he told me as the doors opened again and they wheeled Heero out. "He's still unconscious though, and we don't know how much longer he'll be out, but it shouldn't be too long. Do you know who his medical adviser is?"

"Uh… me. He doesn't have any family," I told him, looking over his shoulder after Heero.

"Then keep in contact just in case something happens. He is stabilized, so he should be fine, but really anything can happen in his state."

I nodded, then walked around him and hurried to catch up with the nurses as they wheeled him into a recovery room. They checked his IV's, hooked up his monitors, then gave him medication. After everything was set, they left and I pulled a chair up to the side of Heero's bed.

He had regained some of his color, but he was still deathly pale. He was bandaged across his chest and the bandages continued down under his gown. There were braces on his wrists and one on his left shoulder. There were bandages on both legs just above his knees and another on his upper left leg. He had a row of stitches above his right eyebrow and on his neck above his collar bones. Ugly bruises and minor cuts littered his skin all over his body. There were wires protruding from the bandages where his heart was and a slight bulge in the gauze. That must've been the external pacemaker. And about every second, his chest jolted slightly and there was a quiet shocking sound. With it, his heart monitor beeped.

I exhaled a shaky sigh, taking his unresponsive, braced hand in mine and resting my head on the bed. I fell asleep much quicker than I wanted to, still completely exhausted.

There was a knock on the door that woke me a few hours later. I jolted upright and whirled around to see Quatre standing at the door. He walked up to the bed and placed a light hand on Heero's leg, looking him over.

"How is he?" he asked me. "Any better?"

"I don't know. He's on a temporary pacemaker and he… he looks like crap," I answered, running my fingers through my unruly bangs.

"I'm so sorry, Duo."

"I… I felt so… helpless, Quatre. Seeing him, bleeding and broken, just barely hanging on to life…" a sob racked my body and I leaned forward, resting my head in my hands. I felt Quatre's hand on my back in reassurance.

The tears started to run down my cheeks and I took Heero's hand, leaning my forehead against our hands. There was a slight pressure on my hand and I jerked upright. Heero's hand had tightened on mine as best as it could in the brace. My heart raced and my breath caught in my throat.

"Heero? Can you hear me? Squeeze my hand if you can," I begged him, standing up.

His hand squeezed mine again and I exhaled heavily in relief, leaning forward so I could hug him. He flinched in pain, but when I tried to release him, his one good arm wrapped around me, holding me to him. I could feel the jolt of his pacemaker against my chest, but I didn't mind. I never wanted him to let go.

"Did you… mean it?" he whispered in my ear, his voice sounding still in pain.

"Mean what?" I whispered back.

"What you said on the dock. That you…" he trailed off.

"That I love you?" I finished for him. I thought about it for a second, but I never had a doubt. "Yeah."

He exhaled in content and released me. I pulled back and sat back down.

"I'll leave you two alone. Best of luck with the recovery, Heero," Quatre said, exiting the room.

Heero nodded and closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the pillows. One of his braced hands wrapped around his midsection and he looked like he was in pain.

"You okay?" I asked him, taking his free hand.

"Yes," he responded, but I knew he was lying.

"I'll get you some pain meds," I told him and stood.

I walked to the door and found a nurse walking down the hall. I jogged up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Can I help you?" she smiled, turning to look at me.

"Uh, yeah. I think my friend needs some pain medication," I told her.

"Alright. Who's your friend?" she asked, walking over to the patient board.

"Yuy. Agent Heero Yuy," I told her, looking over her shoulder at the list.

She found his name and frowned. "Torture victim… Wow… Yeah, I'll page his attending and have him administer some more morphine right away."

"Thank you," I told her with a forced smile, hurrying back to Heero's room.

"Your doctor will be here in a minute," I promised him, closing the door and sitting back down next to his side.

"I don't need—"

"It's okay, Heero. You don't need to lie to me. If you're in pain, just say so," I interrupted.

He just stared at the ceiling. "How bad am I?" he asked me.

"Pretty bad. You died three times. Once in the ambulance and twice on the operating table," I told him, my voice quiet. "That's why you have that pacemaker strapped to your chest. Other than that, dislocated shoulder, sprained right wrist, broken left wrist, and all the other wounds that I'm sure you already know about."

He nodded and looked thoughtful.

"Duo?" he asked after a while, his voice sounding uncertain, nervous.

"Yes?"

"I… I think I—"

He stopped his thought abruptly as his doctor walked in.

"Good, you're awake. I hear you're in pain? Can you tell me where it's bothering you?" he asked Heero, pulling a syringe out of a drawer.

"I'm fine, really—"

"Heero," I hissed at him and he exhaled.

"My stomach, he answered quietly.

"Internal or external?"

"External," Heero answered as the doctor gave him the morphine.

He threw out the used syringe and then moved his hands to check Heero's stomach. He pressed lightly in the middle of his stomach and Heero hissed in pain and flinched away from the touch. The doctor frowned, then checked over Heero's files.

"Well, hopefully, the morphine will be able to suppress that pain. If not, buzz me and we'll up the dosage," he told Heero, then left the room.

"So, what were you going to say?" I asked him after the doctor had closed the door behind him.

"Uh… I was going to tell you that… I think I… I love you, too."

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**So I think there are one or two more chapters after this. I might post another one tonight if I remember. So, please review and I'll see if I can get another chapter up XD**


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry I didn't update this sooner. My internet has been out for the past two days. So I'm posting this while I can and I'm not sure when I'll be able to post the last chapter. That would also be the reason I haven't relpied to any review. Sorry about that as well and I'll reply to those as soon as I can. Well, enjoy.**

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Chapter 14

Heero POV

I watched his reaction, not really sure what to expect. He seemed shocked for a moment, then smiled widely and stood and leaned over me so he could press his lips to mine. I savored it, sinking into his touch. All the pain left as soon as his lips had touched mine and was replaced by pure happiness, pure joy, pure bliss. I had found my morphine. The medicine that the doctor had given me hadn't worked for shit, but Duo's simple touch made all my discomfort completely disappear.

When he broke it off, it was much too soon, and it was followed by the pain. I reached out and grabbed his hand, holding it as tight as I could with the brace and ignoring the pain in my sprained wrist.

"If you don't mind, I'm dead tired," Duo told me leaning his forehead against he mattress.

I pulled on his hand, making him stand. I pulled him onto the bed next to me, wrapping my one good arm around his small waist.

"You'll hurt your back sleeping like that," I said, giving excuses.

He smiled and leaned his head gently against my shoulder. All the pain of being on my side and having Duo resting against me disappeared at having him this close to me.

"Just tell me if I'm hurting you," he told me, wrapping his arms cautiously around me.

"I feel no pain with you. You are my morphine," I whispered honestly in his ear. "Thank you. For finding me. For saving my life."

"No prob, Ro. It was sooo worth it," Duo sighed in content.

I rubbed his back with my hand and played with his braid. Within less than a minute, he was asleep, breathing heavily.

It all felt so weird. The bandages, the braces, the stitches, and especially the thing taped to my chest, shocking my heart to keep it in rhythm. It reminded me too much of that room and that car battery. I felt the panic starting to grow in the back of my head. I hugged Duo tighter to me and shut my eyes. But, when I did, I was back in the room, hanging by the chains, a car battery connected to me and an outlet…

My eyes flew open and I quickly chased away the images. The shock was a mild shock only there to keep me alive, I tried to convince myself. It was ironic, I realized then. I had to be shocked to keep beating a heart that was damaged by electrocution. I turned my head and buried my face into Duo's messy, chestnut bangs, breathing in his scent. It helped clear my head and I felt the panic starting to subside.

His phone started to ring in his pocket and before I could try and answer it, he jolted awake and pulled it to his ear.

"Maxwell," he answered, then listened to whoever was talking on the other side of the line. Suddenly, whatever the other person said made him bolt upright. "You found him? Well is he the guy or not, Quatre? I have no idea what he looks like! He was wearing a mask the entire time!"

I realized who they were talking about then. They were talking about my torturer.

"He'll have a large cut on his right arm," I told Duo, remembering that the knife had cut him when I had kicked it out of his hands. "And I'll be able to recognize him. He didn't wear that mask the entire time."

Duo relayed my information, then sighed. "That's okay, Quatre. We'll find him." Then he hung up and laid back down next to me again, curling into my side. "It wasn't him. They had found his prints inside of the room, but that was because he apparently used to work in that warehouse."

I nodded and it wasn't too long before Duo was out again. He obviously was exhausted, so, even though he was pressed into my side in a somewhat uncomfortable spot, I didn't move him.

I spotted a pad and pen on the bedside table next to me and I carefully unwrapped my good arm from around Duo's waist so that I could reach for it. Pain shot down my back and shoulder as I twisted a little to grab it. Pulling it in front of me, I started to sketch out the man. Although I was busy on cases most of the time, I was able to work as the Preventer's sketch artist during my free time between cases. I never knew where I got the ability to draw. I always assumed I was just born with it. So I continued to sketch out my torturer to the best of my memory, which was pretty good. I had to stop a few times though because of all the memories his forming face dredged up. But they were always washed away with every touch I gave Duo.

After about an hour, I had a pretty damn accurate sketch. I flipped it over and tossed it up onto the nightstand, not wanting to see it anymore.

The door opened and I blushed, then moved to wake Duo.

"Oh, it's okay. You don't need to wake him. He needs to sleep. I just came by to check on the both of you," Quatre told me, closing the door behind him.

I gestured at the pad of paper on the bedside table. "That's our guy," I told him as he walked over and picked it up.

"Perfect. I'll make copies and send it out to all neighboring bureaus," he told me. "How are you feeling? The doctor was telling me that you could start showing signs of PTSD."

Post traumatic stress disorder? I hadn't even thought about that. But, I thought back to the panic, the not wanting to see my drawing, the wariness, and realized that it was true. I was showing signs of PTSD. But what seemed to bother me the most, were the symptoms. Patients experiencing PTSD were known to lash out, to attack assumed threats, to physically harm those who come near or touch. I thought of Duo, lying here with me. What if he were to make a sudden movement, or accidentally bring to life old memories, or startle me in some way? I wasn't an ordinary patient with PTSD, I was a trained killer who had hair trigger reflexes. If Duo were to startle me and I were to lash out, I could seriously wound him, or even possibly kill him.

I moved away from Duo a little bit, put some space between me and him. But he rolled over into me, his arm draping across my stomach. I flinched a little, then gently repositioned his arm to a more comfortable position.

"I think he may be right," I whispered to Quatre, rubbing Duo's back.

"Be careful with him, Heero," Quatre told me, his voice warning. "I'll talk to him though, tell him to be careful with you as well."

I nodded, looking down at Duo. I lightly kissed the top of his head and made myself promise that I'd never do anything to hurt him.

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**So there is one more chapter after this one. But there should be a sequel. I've been working on it, but it's not coming along very fast. Hopefully I'll be able to get that finished, but no promises. So please review and I'll post the last chapter hopefully by tomorrow.**


	15. Chapter 15

**So I hate to say that this is the last chapter... And sorry again for posting this really late. My internet doesn't like me... Please enjoy!**

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Chapter 15

Duo POV

"Hey Duo, can I talk to you for a moment?" Quatre asked me as I opened my eyes.

It took me a moment to remember where I was, but then it came back to me when I felt Heero's tense body next to mine. I quickly removed my arms from around his waist, afraid I could be hurting him. I looked up to see that he was asleep. I sat up carefully so that I wouldn't disturb him, then followed Quatre out of the room.

Quatre closed the door behind us and turned to me, worry expressed clear on his face.

"You need to be careful around him, Duo. The doctor said that he could develop PTSD, and he's admitted to having experienced symptoms. I'm not just worried about Heero here, I'm actually more worried about you. He's a very dangerous man, and if he were to lose control, the consequences could be deadly for you," Quatre told me.

I nodded. I hadn't thought about PTSD. He was always such a strong, brave person. I never imagined that he'd be affected this severely by anything. But it did make sense. He had a lot of terrible things done to him in that dark room and it wouldn't surprise me if it had gotten to him.

I turned and headed back into the room. I stood next to his bed for a moment, but then backed up and sat in the chair. I was afraid to touch him. I wasn't afraid for myself like Quatre was, but I was afraid to hurt Heero. He needed his space, needed time to recover both physically and mentally.

Heero relaxed face suddenly hardened. His hands fisted and he started to breathe heavily. The monitor on his heart beeped in funny rhythm as the pacemaker tried to keep a regular pace. I could see sweat starting to line his forehead under his mess of chocolate brown hair. Suddenly, his eyes flew open and he shot up in bed. He winced, his hand flying to his stomach as he fell back into the bed in pain, eyes shut tight.

"Heero?" I asked, worried.

My voice made him jump, but then he registered that it was my voice and he relaxed. Every time his pacemaker shocked him, he tensed more and more. Suddenly he pulled off the front of his gown and grabbed the wires of the pacemaker. Before I could stop him, he ripped off the wires and threw them aside.

"Heero!"

"The shocking… it's reminding me of…" he trailed off, not wanting to finish that sentence. But he didn't have to. I knew exactly what he was thinking.

I nervously watched his monitor. His heart rate was slightly irregular, but it held. I exhaled a sigh of relief and was about to reach for his hand, but thought better of it. He had just woke from a bad memory and ripped out his pacemaker. He obviously was a bit unstable right now.

Although, he didn't seem to think so. He reached out and his braced hand grabbed mine. His eyes were still closed and he was breathing deeply. But then, he shook his head and opened his eyes again, keeping his eyes on the ceiling.

"Are you okay, Heero?" I asked tentatively.

"Yes," he lied.

"No you're not."

He didn't respond, his cobalt eyes still staring at the ceiling and his mouth tight.

"It's okay, Heero. You were just tortured for twenty four straight hours. Being not okay is nothing to be ashamed of. If anything, people respect you."

That caught his attention. He turned to look at me, his eyebrow raised.

"You lived, Heero. You endured it. And you endured it silently. I'm not sure I could say that I'd be able to do the same thing," I told him honestly.

"I only lived because you found me," he responded, a frown on his face.

"Well, the guy wasn't there when we got there, and he hadn't killed you before he fled, so you obviously did something to stop him from doing that."

"I disarmed him," he answered like it was nothing.

"Exactly! You disarmed him while bound, suspended, and fatally wounded, Heero. If that's not something that earns respect, then you tell me what does."

He frowned, turning his head back to look at the ceiling.

"Speaking of which," I frowned. "When he severed your femoral, it was obvious he meant it to be a fatal wound. How did he do that if you disarmed him?"

"He did that when I was trying to kill him," he started, sounding very reluctant to retell the story, but knowing he had too. "I got the knife out of his hand, then managed to get my legs around his throat. He picked up the knife and stabbed me. I thought I had killed him, but the sound of the proximity alarm woke him up and that's when he tried to kill me again. I disarmed him again, then he bolted."

"See what I mean, Heero?" I exhaled in awe, throwing my free hand up into the air, making him jump. "Even while, bound, suspended, and wounded, you can still kick some serious ass. There is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of."

"Hn."

I exhaled sharply. "I know your big ass macho pride can't stand the fact that this happened to you, but I think you did great Heero. You put up with that… that jackass for twenty four hours and you did everything by the book. You kept quiet, didn't show fear, remained in control, and survived. I can't name a single person, myself included, that could've endured what you did. And I respect that, Heero."

He sighed, "I guess I'm just… I'm just… embarrassed about my reaction to all of this. I don't know why I'm reacting this way. It makes me feel like I'm a—"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," I frowned.

"Okay. Can you… Being near you… It helps," he stuttered, blushing slightly.

"Only if you promise not to attack me," I teased.

He didn't catch the sarcasm in my voice and looked ashamed and upset.

"I was just kidding, Heero," I told him, moving to lie next to him.

I wrapped my arms around him and he pulled me close to him. He winced and I tried to give him a little space, but his iron strong grip kept me against him.

"You don't need to worry about me attacking you. I forget about it all when I'm with you," he whispered in my ear.

"That… is really sappy," I giggled into his bandages.

"It's true," he responded.

The door opened and I turned my head to see Quatre standing in the doorway, a frown on his face.

He took a deep breath, then, "He's gone. We have absolutely nothing to go by. We're putting a security detail on Heero, though, just in case he tries to finish the job."

I felt Heero tense involuntarily. I'm sure it was the thoughts of the killer still being loose that bothered him.

"We'll get him, Heero. I promise you I won't let him hurt you," I reassured him.

"Well…" Quatre started, sounding a little nervous. "We've been pulled off the case. One, you two are too involved, and two, he's left our jurisdiction. We can't run the case anymore. There is nothing we can do anymore."

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**So yes, that is the end. But I'm currently working on a sequel, so hopefully I'll get that going. I'll finish and post that as soon as possible. Hopefully... If the inspiration doesn't run out... Well anyway, please review and tell me if I should even bother with a second one. Thank you all for reading and special thanks to all of you who reviewed *loves you all* XD**

**I did just finish a short fic that turned out to be a really long fic. I'll be posting that as a new story as soon as I can figure out a name for it XD So watch for that, it should be up soon... given my internet doesn't conk out again XD**

**So yes, until next time!**


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